Naaaw, holiday cheer.

See you in the New year, with some exciting new stuff.

Have a good one kids.

RT

A next Metal Gear is........ Disappointing.

Really Hideo? OK then. Not exactly what we were all hoping for but lets just see how this one pans out.

Mr Metal

Playstation Home Alone 2: Lost in PSN

So Brother N pointed out to me today that the Home Beta launches globally today, so there really is no need for me to give you a detailed review of Home's features as you will find out for yourselves in the coming hours................

That doesn't mean I'm not gonna talk about how fucking BOOOOORING it is. Man! I know its not a game but when you bring something like this out on an "entertainment console", forgive me for expecting a little entertainment. I mean, come on. Draughts?! Really? Is the Home universe set in the 40's? I mean it was sorta fun, but fun in the way that it is only fun because nothing else is fun at all. Like when your bored at work and you play minesweeper, or you miss the train so you play snake on you Nokia 3210. Listen to Brother N, Sony. Noone wants to play pool in a virtual world! We can do that at the local bar, and drink delicious drinks too.

One thing I thought was going to be kinda cool was the movie theatre which allows you to watch trailers for games and movies etc. Great idea, until they make you sit there watching a progress bar of your clip of choice download with no background download option. WOOOOO HOOOOO! Fun City Sony! More effing progress bars and another fine example of your achingly slow download speeds over PSN. Once it finally does download, rather than watch the clip in full screen, you have to watch it in a virtual movie screen complete with curtains and front row seats about half the size of our own screen. That's ok though because you can change it to full screen......... oh wait a minute..... NO YOU CAN'T! Good thing I have a reasonable size HDTV, too bad for anyone still using a smaller SD set though.

It does however sport pretty sweet looking visuals and a half decent physics engine which brings back the question, why waste it on draughts and pool? Do something entertaining with it like some over the top mini games we can play while we wait for noobpwner69 to get online so we can play....... something together. There is seriously more fun in LittleBigPlanet's Pod than there is in the WHOLE of Home.

So far.

With all that said, Home to me does have some possible potential, but its going to need a tonne of interesting and fun improvements if its to appeal to gamers. All they need is the FUN patch.

Mr Metal

ps. At least the character customization is good................. If you like looking like every-fucking-one else. Do not even get me started.

Breaking up with Guitar Hero

A few years ago, on a recommendation from a one Mister Metal, I picked up Guitar Hero for the PS2. Walking out to my car with a kiddy sized plastic guitar I have to admit a little twang of shame.

Not helped by the slight look of pity from my girlfriend who shot me that 'Oh thats just sad' look as I stood in front of the TV, missing notes and jerking the guitar around. Months passed and we all grew to love it, so much though that when Guitar hero II came around, I bought her her own shiny red Gibson.

Guitar Hero 80s was the first sign that shit was going wrong. That game straight up sucked. It felt like a shitty mod. So by the the time GH3 came out we were quite dubious. Apart from the gross product placement, it was pretty good and the new wireless guitar was pure magic.

Then came Rock Band. Oh wait. No it didn't. It never came. But after some a friend did some importing, we did manage to have a nice 7 hour session that confirmed just how good it was.

Guitar Hero World tour should be just as good right? It's not. I hate it. The new guitar is awesome and the drums are fine...so where's the beef?

I play this game with my friends. I don't care if I never five star a song on expert. I play it for shits and giggles over a few well placed ales. So when that game says 'FAILED' and boots us all out because one person looses the plot, I am totally turned off. Everyone is.

So, to quote the wonderfully eloquent Omoclese when asked if we should trade it in for Rockband DLC money; ' Yeah, Fuck that game'

Fuck it indeed.

One copy of Rock Band II please.

-n

A next Metal Gear is... Huh?!

This image is taken from a new Konami/Kojima Productions teaser page. WTF? Are we getting another new Metal Gear already? So far, the best info I have been able to uncover is that it could be either MGS4 ported to Xbox 360 or the original Metal Gear Solid coming to XBLA.

Let the speculation begin!

Mr Metal

Argh! More trailer hotness with "new" Riddick trailer

I say "new" because its not a "new" game. Its a re-imagining of the original Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay which i have expressed my love for in a previous post. Looking REALLY good. Somehow, they have managed to pack in MORE SHINE TOO!

Aaaaaaaanyway, check it.

Highr quality video from Giant Bomb. Recommended.

Drooooooooooooooooool.

Mr Metal

New Ghostbusters Trailer looks the goods

Woo!

There is not much gameplay footage shown, but what I am most excited about is the story stuff. Its definitely got the feel from the movies so far. Fingers crossed it maintains that vibe throughout the game because thats whats going to sell it for me personally. Hopefully the gameplay will be good too, of course :)

Mr Metal

Playstation Home Alone

Just checked my inbox, as you do, and found an email with the subject "Your exclusive invitation to join us in PlayStation Home" sitting there for me.

Woo? Not sure yet. I will have to wait until I get home tonight to see but Ill be sure to post my findings when i do. I'm looking forward to checking it out.

Anyone else get an invite yet? Or will i be "Home Alone"?

Mr Metal

PS: The link is for the kiddies. It may have been a bit before your time. Its one of the greatest stories ever told. An absolute cinema classic.

Astroboy: the movie. Let the nostalgia/hysteria begin

Click the pic to go check out the teaser...All I can say is....CHILLS.

-N

PS. Dear people making the Astroboy movie: DON'T FUCK WITH MY CHILDHOOD. If you make this a bad flick, me and a posse of late 20 somethings will come and make your forums A LIVING HELL. FOR A BIT. THEN GET OVER IT. Yeeeeeeah.

GTA IV DLC get a date, screens, minor deets

Dust off your copy of GTA IV people, DLC is on the way! Screens for the Xbox 360 exclusive episodic content called "The Lost and Damned" is set to be released Feb 17. No word on pricing as of yet.

This episode will be based on a new character who is a member of the Biker gang called "The Lost" named Johnny Klebitz. I can only assume that there will be a tonne of motorbike action, which is fine by me. Motorbikes were always my preferred mode of transport since their introduction to the (3D) series in Vice City, especially the Sanchez.

My only question is can you still be considered a Biker if you ride a Faggio?

Mr Metal

LittleBigPlanet: The good, the bad and the fucking ugly.

After an excruciating wait, we have LittleBigPlanet in our soft knitted hands and is it the long awaited reason to actually turn on our PS3s? Fuck yes it is.

So will a game with a cutesy facade, a challenging single player, co-op out the wazzoo and an incredibly accessible level creation mode unite the casual with the core? It sure ticks all the boxes...on paper.

Littlebigplanet visually pops. It's art style is amazingly consistent. Everything is considered in content and fantastically high res. It's handmade aesthetic extends to every aspect of the game and makes the game have a tactile quality that few other games could claim.

The game is made up of two distinct modes: Play and Create.

Play is made up Story levels created by the developers Media Molecule, and Community levels which are entirely user created.

The Story levels seem to just be preloaded content to provide a single player game, but they also serve as fantastic inspiration, giving the user an inkling of some of the full on crazy shit they can make in the Create mode. It's worth of noting that Media Molecule have decided to show all the devices that make their levels tick rather than hiding them. This is a nice way to give the players an idea of how some of their amazing tricks are accomplished.

Another thing worth noting is that the later levels are BALLS HARD. Rather than feeling playful glee after I finished up the Story levels, it had me feeling like I had passed a stone. Exausted, with a pain in the dick. It's a necessary evil though if you want to get all the materials to build with, and whether or not that's a good thing is VERY debatable ($5 says there's will be 'unlock all content' DLC within a month or two).

The community levels are hit and miss. Which is of course, not a surprise. Check out YouTube. Bunch a shitty shit on there. There has been some pretty serious copyright infringing ban hammering going on, leaving some users pretty pissed as to their unexplained and inscrutable deletion. Then you have the other end of the spectrum. The un-effing-believable.

The interface for seeking out Community content could do with some tweaking. You navigate the levels on a big globe and it looks hell cool, but is kinda tricky to find what you want. You can 'heart' a level for quick reference, but once you have a few it gets mess again. A filtering system for how many plays and hearts a level has would be appreciated. In non-fancy list form please.

Create mode is utterly amazing. It's a level creator, it's a toy, it's whats ever you make it. I initially though you could make a sweet tree. Turns out you can make a fucking CALCULATOR. It's far more robust and full featured than I could have imagined. Not to mention easy. Metal and I had an idea and within half an hour we had a working prototype. The only thing I would ask for is more control over the view. Let me lock the view where ever I want it and put in a split screen if I choose to. Let's hope it gets patched in.

LittleBigPlanet is not for everybody. On paper it should be, but its my honest belief that this will not be the olive branch that links the core with the casual. Some players will not bother to spend the time building rad levels and get put off by the punishing story levels. Others will find the aesthetic a little too sugary sweet and babyish.

And you know what? I don't give a fuck. It's everything I wanted it to be and I will be playing this game for a very long time to come. I see what it is, I see what it can be, and I am excited.

So wheres the 'fucking ugly'? That would be located in the PSN store. At the moment there is a T-shirt for your Sackperson, that costs $8.45 AU. ONE FUCKING T-SHIRT. This unholy money grubbery is clearly an experiment to see how much you are willing to pay and flies in the face of all the touchy feely community stuff Media Molecule have been pimping. So Please, don't insult us with this shameless bullshit, it only harms the product.

-n

PS. I also find the fact an infinitly reproducable and widely available digital shirt is described as 'rare' hilariously ironical. Watch now as I guffaw into my latte until my monocle falls off.

Hey! Its the 3rd Watchmen trailer!

Oh yeah, it just keeps getting better.

Mr Metal

Arrested Development Movie confirmed?

This just popped into my daily feeds. Fingers crossed!

C'mon guys, Do it! Or are you just chicken?

Cocka Cocka Cocka Caawww!

Mr Metal

THIS is why LittleBigPlanet is a big deal. Gradius in LBP

One week out people.



ONE WEEK.

Amazing.

Fable II: Irony Age

Lets cut to the chase. Fable II has me squarely by the man beans. I was expecting it to be good, but it's not. It's fucking fantastic.

It's exactly what I wanted, more Fable, better realised. It has depth, but it's like a shallow depth that is spread really wide. That made sense in my head. Moving on.

I had been crafting a character, with a rogue in mind. Do what I like, when I like. And that was working out just fine, until I shacked up with a wench, who promptly dumped me for 'Neglect' or some such shit. Who knew wives don't like neglect?

Bitter, I turned to a life of corrupt bastardry. I bought up most of the slums and jacked the rent and started earning a healthy income from my filthy real estate scam.

I then get a message from a friend, telling me that a friend had wandered up to him in game and given him...900 000 gold. My tiny pile shrivelled up with embarrassment.

The same friend found me in game some time later and asked me to meet him, telling me he had 'a little present for me'. I joined him in chat and after he explained that he had used the 'clock exploit', I told him 'no thanks, I'm right for gold'.

I turned down a million gold and he didn't even want to sleep with my (ex)wife.

So I'm playing as the most corrupt prick on the planet, but I turned down free money. Ironic, no?

I suppose that gesture extended beyond the game though, It's sort of a game breaker for me. Getting money is part of my fun, and if it was removed, it would take away the thrill of the chase and I would end up enjoying the game a lot less.

That must be how Paris Hilton feels.

N

Can you really have too much of a good thing?

October has so far been an excellent month for blockbuster game titles. I for one have been looking forward to getting amongst as much as I can afford, both in the money and time sense. I got a copy of Pure and thought it was excellent. I also got a copy of Saints Row 2. This I feel needs some work but none the less, a good effort and lots of big dumb fun.

More recently, we were lucky enough to get a copy of Fable II before its intended release date which is GREAT. I have been digging into that with great satisfaction as I am a Fable fan from way back.

Then the spanner was cast. Far Cry 2.

A problem? Not really. Well, at least I didn't think it would be a problem. Until last night when I decided to throw it in to check it out, as you do when you purchase such a hefty title such as Far Cry 2. Then came the problem. Its totally f'ing awesome. Like I'm talking Fable II f'ing awesome.

You see what I'm getting at? How the hell do you prioritize one major release game over another? That is, how do I fully enjoy Fable II when I know Far Cry 2 is waiting for me, and vice versa! As I thought about it a bit more, I remembered the other titles coming soon and came to the conclusion that its only going to get worse. ALOT worse. We have Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Little Big Planet, Left 4 Dead, not to mention Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band, all within the next few weeks. I thought I was ready for the onslaught of quality gaming to come, ready to gorge myself like a fat man at the self serve buffet. Turns out my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Again.

For me, I feel its not so much a question of how do you afford all these great games anymore, as Brother N talked about just recently. I think I have shown myself this month that where there is a will there is a way when it comes to scraping up funds for games. For me its now a matter of how much enjoyment am I going to get out of each game once they are all sitting in front of me, ready to play. I sure as hell am not going to rush through these games, but I'll be positively ITCHING to start the next one. Its a vicious, vicious circle.

I used to work in game retail so I know why they release all the major blockbusters at once this time of year, I really do. Its getting into the silly season and there is a tonne of money to be made because Mrs. Mum needs to get her son little Johnny Shithead the latest game for Christmas because he had enough of giving people shit on COD4 over Xbox Live. However for the "average" gaming enthusiast like myself and my friends, its just flatout inconvenient.

AAAAAAANYWAY................

I know I'm definitely not the only one in this wretched boat. How are you guys coping with the large amounts of awesome upon us? Is there a pecking order you follow or do you just dip you hand in a hat and pull out a number? Or do you just throw it all in and take up bush walking? I would love to hear about it.

Mr Metal

PS: Notice that I didn't mention Dead Space at all? I have made the tough decision to not look at that game until this wave of titles are done. And its KILLING me because that game looks absolutely amazing.

JCVD?

I am strangely intrigued by this movie. Im gonna keep a close eye on it.

Mr Metal

New Gears of War 2 teaser. Goner increases.

From the same crew that created the "Madworld" teaser for the original Gears of War.

I'm a sucker for a good teaser trailer. Gears of War 2 is set for release November 7, and i cant wait.

Mr Metal

Watchmen Trailer #2 = Very yes!

Wow. Watchmen is really shaping up to be one of the must see films of 2009. I am very new to the Watchmen universe, as a matter of fact I am about half way through reading the graphic novel at the moment, but my excitement for this film grows after each page turn.

Now seeing the iconic scenes from the book being faithfully represented in these epic trailers has raised my anticipation further again. Looking good Mr. Snyder!

Mr Metal

Not. Happy. Janet.

Lucasarts/Bioware announced their new KOTOR game with a swift kick to the nuts of all the original Xbox players. A PC only MMORPG.

Great. Thanks guys! Now I'm gonna either have to spend more dollars on a new PC/monthly subscriptions or just plain miss out. Way to support the original fans of the game! Lets just hope its worth forking out the cash for.

I have read that a console version is "under consideration" but that means dick all until they make an official announcement. Time will tell i guess.

In the meantime, I'm giving you all the chance to win the awesome prize of buying me a new PC. The lucky winner get my Paypal details and a dint in their savings account.

Mr Metal

LittleBigPain: Send em back boys.

Thursday was going to be a good day. A feast of games fit for a king. Perhaps even a Super-King.

Now news has broken that background music containing potentially offensive lyrics has spurned a WORLD WIDE RECALL. What was so offensive? The following: “Every soul shall have the taste of death” and “all that is on earth will perish.” recited in Somali. These lines are taken from the Qur’an.

So before I unleash a tirade at Sony for being the largest pussies on earth, its best to mention that the concerns were raised by a Muslim user who indeed found the lyric offensive. As much as I want to go the apest of shit at Sony and MM for political meekness, I have to respect that guy's right to be shitty. Mixing music and words from the Qur’an is apparently a big no no for Muslims.

But isn't this reaction a wee bit over the top? MM has stated that they had a day 0 patch at the ready to block the offending material, and yet a recall is necessary? I feel a bit like Sony heard the words "Muslim" and "Death" and freaked the fuck out.

So now as I stare at the 'TBC' next to its name and rest my head in my hands, I can't help think 'Where the fuck was the censorship for Burnout Paradise when I had Avril Lavigne bleating her horror-pop at me?' Now that shit is offensive.

You know what I did?

I went to the menu, and I TURNED THAT SONG OFF.

This my friends, is a load of bullshit of the highest magnitude.

-N

Nursery Rhymes? Seriously?

Just a quick note to the marketing team at EA in charge of promoting Dead Space, using nursery rhymes ironically is played the fuck out.

n

PSeye review

or 'What the eff can I do with this thing til LittleBigPlanet comes out'

After seeing that custom textures can be used in LBP using the PSeye, I decided to pony up and buy one. This of course gave some evil little weasel over at Sony get his wings, and I knew it, but I am just so amped for LBP I just had to.

After checking the local Electronical Boutiquery, and then laughing, I decided to buy one from Hong Kong and be gouged half the price. Sent it ended up about $45. So here's the review.



It's a little camera! See!

So what's there to do out of the box? Not a fucking thing! Ok ok, not entirely true. You can download, FOR FREE, EyeCreate. Now, when I read this, I remembered those sweet Tank War tech demos from earlier this year, and thought that would probably be EyeCreate. Nope.

EyeCreate allows you to take video, shoot pictures record sound and make stop motion videos with the Pseye. Oh the technical wonders of the Playstation 3. Pretty lame milhouse.

The video looks ok, but nothing spectatular. The mic is pretty sensitive, but why I would want to record sounds in my lounge room, I don't know.

There are a couple of other things for you to download from the PSN. Mesmerize is one, which is a neat looking tech demo, for AU$5. that I am yet to buy....basically because I don't feel like I should. This stuff should really, really, REEEEEAALY come in the box. I don't care if it's cheap, just give it to me for buying your camera.

When I bought the Xbox Live Vision camera it came with UNO, a headset, some shitty arcade game and a month free of live. Granted it kind of sucks, but at least there is some rewards for picking one up.

I did however buy Tori-Emaki, which I would have to say is the finest gesture controlled bird/japanese painting simulator on the market. BY HEAPS.

Pretty though.

N

C'mon, Daddy needs a new Star Wars RPG...

Bioware and LucasArts have announced that they will be unveiling a new game October 21st. Is this the KOTOR MMO everyone has been waiting for? Or is it going to (please) be a boring old, regular style RPG? KOTOR 3 perhaps?

All will be reveiled on the 21st. Being a HUUUUUGE fan of KOTOR and Star Wars in general, Ill be waiting by the mouse with much anticipation..........

Mr Metal

Choking on your wiimote

Just felt like pointing out yet another hilariously shitty Wii peripheral. It's called the AirG and will come packed in with 'Rockstar Guitar'.

I'm sure it works just great, but it sure does look like a space caterpillar is choking on your Wiimote. Or is this the ribbed version of the Wiimote 'jacket' we have all been waiting for?



N


pic via Destructoid

Nintendo announces the New DSi handheld

Everyone was expecting it, today they confirmed it. Nintendo has announced the new Nintendo DSi. ("i" huh fellas? Nice one...)

So far, the specs look pretty good. 2 cameras (one is 3 megapixel, the other is vga resolution), sd card, larger 3.25 inch screens, thinner casing, no more GBA slot, built in web browsing. But the strangest and possibly best new addition so far is the internal storage. After all the hoo-hah recently, its seems like the last thing Nintendo would want on their console is a hard drive.

They have also announced the DSi store, which can be accessed thru your DSi's web browser to download games, much the same as Wiiware on the Wii.

Apart from that, it still just looks like a DS Lite, which is not necessarily a bad thing as the Lites look slick as.

Who wants one?!

Mr Metal does :)

More info available @ 1up.com

UPDATE: Kotaku has a video and hi res pics.

The 23rd of October is going to wallet-fuck you

LittleBigPlanet, Fable 2, Farcry 2 and Dead Space. 4 big arse releases, all on the same flipping day.

Seriously?

What to do? Buy em all? Pick your favourite? Coin toss? Hold up the EB with a copy of Bomberman Act Zero?

We all know I'm all about the LittleBigPlanet(bought a PS3 didn't I?) so for me that's a given.

Dead Space is looking good in a 'OH GOD DON'T LET IT TOUCH ME' kind of way.

After seeing some new videos of Farcry 2 (he nearly caps a goat!) show off some of that classic Farcry open world cat and mouse stuff that I loved from the original, before it went all mutanty.

And Fable 2 is a big big yes. I loved the first, despite its shitty 'see it coming 38 miles away' story, so the prospect of a new one is really exciting.

So what....$400 worth of games in a day? Can't we space this shit out a bit? In quieter months, I would have bought everything one. But because they are all on the same day, somethings gotta give. I know I'm not alone. Million dollar games are just just gonna get lost in the wash.

Fuck you games publishers/distributers/other contibuting factors.

On the upside, it is nice to having a fuck-tonne of awesome to play for the holidays.

Brother N

Wario breaks the 4th wall/YouTube

No questions, follow the link and enjoy.

Brother N

*Pic from Notcot

Rock Band finally dated for Australia, Satan puts on a wooly jumper.

Mark it on your calendars, start sending out your 80's glam themed NYE party invites, commence your deep knee rock squats. Rock Band will hit Australian store shelves November 7th.

HOO-FUCKING-RAY! We finally have a solid date. Oh, joyous of all days! But the best part so far? The price, which is AU$249.99 for the full bundle, game included. Not too bad compared to $329 for the equivalent Guitar Hero 4 bundle. No word on the pricing or availability of DLC yet. Maybe that will come November next year.....

I still cant help but feel the sting of rejection after waiting for what seems like an eternity for this game to arrive. It also doesn't help that i am sitting here listening to the GWJ podcast talk about playing Rock Band 2. Not 2 as in too or also or as well. 2 as in TWO, the sequel. Its a bit of a kick in the rock nuts.

Which ever way you look at it, its a small win for Aussie gamers, but after what we have had to deal with lately, we will take what we can get. Enjoy it, y'all. And if you want it on launch, you will be heading down to pre order it right now. Seriously. You will NOT get a copy on launch if you don't do it and you're an IDIOT if you think otherwise. Go on, do it! Gooooooooo!

Mr Metal

Major Nelson shows us how Avatars will work

For those of you who don't know, the Xbox 360 Dashboard is getting a"Backyard Blitz" style facelift very soon. One of the new features that has recieved the most attention so far is the addition of an Avatar system, very much the same as Miis for the Nintendo Wii. (Or was it the other way around?) These are said to be the new gamerpics, or at least another option to spice up your Xbox 360 profile.

Heres a clip i came across today featuring Xbox Live's Major Nelson giving a breif rundown on how the Avatar system will work. Check it:
<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&amp;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:af0e0dcd-5cff-43a2-bd32-4841fe6a89d1&amp;showPlaylist=true&amp;from=shared" target="_new" title="Avatars in the new Xbox experience">Video: Avatars in the new Xbox experience</a>
Very similar to the Mii system which is not a bad thing at all. If it aint broke, then blah blah blah. Im looking forward to digging into the new Dashboard a bit more once it hits. Release date TBC.

Mr Metal

Mad Catz Bass controller FTW! Now all we need is the game...

I noticed a review of the new Mad Catz Bass peripheral for Rock Band in today's feeds. Normally I would not give a shit about Rock Band related news given its current status in Australia, but I couldnt help but notice an update on the controller that made me take notice.

the update im talking about is a new split "strum" bar, which is an EXCELLENT idea! Those who don't know, most bass lines will require you to play 2 fingers alternatively, so the split bar makes perfect sense. Simple but bloody clever. Might take a few trys to get used to, but i will bet that most users will welcome the change once they see their note streaks improving. In addition to the strum bar, it also looks like they have replaced the whammy with a single control knob. Activating star power probably wont feel as "rock and roll" as wrenching a whammy around like a lunatic, but it makes more sense as whammy bars are not normally a regular feature on real bass guitars.

The only downside looks to be that its not wireless, so there will be no somersaults or bitch flips while using it.

Apart from that, it looks like a winner. I think the inclusion of a proper bass controller is going to make playing bass in Rock Band/GH4 a much more fun, band like experience. Kudos to Mad Catz for using their noodle and creating a peripherel that may actually be worth shelling out a few extra duckets for, rather than just making a re-cased version on the standard guitar.

Now, we would like the game, please.

Mr Metal

Fable 2 cheats you out of cheated gold, CONFIRMED (I was right)

Looks like my theory that the Fable 2 pub games free money glitch was in fact INTENTIONAL

has been all but comfirmed in a recent IGN interview with the Molyneux. 

Ahhhh....I'm just going to bask in my own glow for a second.

-Brother N

God bless that wonderful Seth MacFarlane.

Heres a video from Seth's new online clip show called Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. Watch and enjoy.



That's right.

Mr Metal

Aussie censors piss of the world.

Edge Online just posted an article explaining the recent edits applied to Bethesda's Fallout 3 made to avoid a refused classification in Australia will now in every version WORLD WIDE.

So instead of Aussies being pissed off about their usual screw-job, now the world has to suffer because of our embarrassingly outdated rating system. FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC.

Let's hope George W Bush is a big Fallout fan, so that he can give our PM a call and say "Hey....What gives dumbass? You Austrians mussed up my game....man, change it back! " and, of course, we'd submit like the little bitch we are.

GET PISSED OFF WORLD. Get REAL pissed off.

-Brother N-

Review???

Ok, so I was fortunate enough to pick up 2 high profile releases this morning, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise. I've been looking forward to these games, especially Mercs 2. I'm also lucky enough to have Tuesdays off. I'm set for a super day of quality gaming.

Unfortunately tomorrow we have a house inspection and the lawn had not been mowed for a number of weeks, thanks to recent rain fall and lack of equipment.

So brings me to my review of.............

The Briggs and Stratton Sprint 375 Lawn Mower.

The Sprint has all the features you would expect from a standard lawnmower wrapped in a nice fire-engine red chassis. Straight off the bat, it starts with ease. Just hold down the throttle and pull the cord. Too easy. It also runs off unleaded petrol, so there is no messing around with 2 stroke mixes. The engine noise was average but definitely not recommended for 7am starts, unless you want angry neighbors.

I started my tests on the front lawn which could be described as "regular shabby". The Sprint handled this area with no hassles whatsoever. It got into the nooks of the yard pretty easily also which is very handy.

Then onto the back lawn, which could only be described as "The Degoba System". The twin blades tore through the larger areas of the lawn with ease, even made light work of the thicker weed like patches. In the 3-4 hours of use only needed to be filled twice.

My only gripe is with the throttle, which needs to be held down while mowing, much like a bicycle handbrake. With the smaller areas, it wasn't an issue but as soon as a little more elbow grease was needed i found that holding both the handle AND throttle created a bit of hand discomfort.

Apart from that, its a great mower. I would recommend it to anyone with a small to medium level yard. People with larger, uneven grassed areas would do better to look elsewhere.

All up, i would rate The Briggs and Stratton Sprint 375 Lawn Mower 4 wasted days off out of 5

Now I'm off to play Mercs 2. Ask me to mow your lawn and I'll kill you.

Mr Metal

Bioshock for the Gameboy?

Syke! Not really. Just a cool mock jpeg of a de-make version of Bioshock I found in my daily feeds today. Very well done. Almost looks like a game I would have actually played back in the days of yore, when my Gameboy was king.

Check out these forums for some other great de-makes such as S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Ico and Guitar Hero, all in GLORIOUS 2D!

Mr Metal

Nostalgia Get!

Anyone remember this game? I remember REALLY enjoying it when I first got my Gamecube. Recently I've had a MAD hankering to replay it lately, so I tracked myself down a copy. It wasn't as easy as you think either. I deliberately took the photo of the game with the package so you can see that I didn't just head down to my local EB and leisurely scoop up a copy.

I did the hard yards. I spent the big dollars. I jumped on Google and found Gametraders.

Enter the Rant Theory Podcast review segment titled: "I REMEMBER THIS BEING FUN!" where we take an old game previously played and loved (or hated) by ourselves, in this case Smugglers Run: Warzones, and re-review it in today's standards. This will be the first game that we will tackle so keep an ear out for the podcast real soon. Hell, even I'M keen to know what i think of it now!

Thanks again to the crew at Gametraders Woodcroft for being awesome to deal with and not laughing at me for buying this game. They even sent me a little swag of purple Gametraders goodies. WOOT! Very happy, and i'll shop with them again. Hit 'em up at gametraders.com.au (Sorry in advance to my local EB peeps. I still have yo' back)

Now, if they could only track me down a copy of Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes......

Mr Metal

Man makes All-In-One Retro handheld console, Is not very good at Arkanoid.

It wont win any beauty pageants, but still a pretty good effort.



What I would like to see is someone make a current generation All-in-One console. You know, so I can play games on it that I actually give a shit about.

Mr Metal

Prepare to be owned by a parakeet

Oh great, just when I had come to grips with the fact that I'm doomed to being murdered at Call Of Duty 4 by 8 year olds, Now i have to deal with THIS SHIT.



If someone teaches their pet chimp to beat me at UNO, I'm fuckin OUT.

Brother N

Rock Band 2. Heavy Metal indeed.

The new Rock Band 2 opening cinematic.

That's right. That's a spiked ball and chain attached to the microphone. Metal as fuck! Apart from that, its pretty similar to the last one, which is fine by me as the last one was awesome also.

I wonder if that will come out as a 3rd party add on................ if the game ever fucking gets here.

Mr Metal

PS: Shitty video, I know. Its the best I could do. I'll pop up a better one when its made available.

Nathan gets a PS3: Initial impressions

That's it! I caught every console pokemon of generation now.

The latest and last edition, the big-black-George Foreman grill-tanning bed PS3. Why now? Uhhhhh.....I don't really now. With the release of the new 80 gigger w/dual shock and the fact I just busted open my piggy bank (no, really) sent me over the edge. But my first few hours gave me that old familar twang of buyers remorse.

Buying no games really didn't help this. I had no Metal Gears to get all swept away with.

So I decide to set the thing up, download a bunch of demos and just get a feel for it. But of course it needs to update. No problem. It takes 45 slow minutes. Ok ok....no problem. Once I'm logged in, it's on to the Playstation Store to grab some of the PS3 goods I have missed.

A little while ago, I remember people being happy that the PS store had been redesigned. WHAT THE FUCK WAS IT LIKE BEFORE, because the one they have now is a fucking DOG to navigate. It's easy enough to move around in, but finding stuff is a real pain in the arse.

It segmented into really specific categories like 'platformers or 'racing games that include, but are not limited to, a red car'. When you find something you actually want you must do the following: Select the thing you want, then in a new page hit Download, then in a new list form hit download again, THEN ask the playstation if would be ok to dowload it in the background. ...WHY THE FUCK WOULDN'T I WANT TO DOWNLOAD IT IN THE BACKGROUND?? No, no, let me stare at the bar for a while! WOO! What an epic bar!! WEEE!! 3 percent! IT'S A PARTY!

Just when it seemed extemely grim....I saw a beakon in the form of an icon with a stupid button eyed grin...

LittleBigPlanet.

I literally said out loud "Oh yeah!....I can play LittleBig on this thing! Sweet!"

And all my anger was gone.

October 30 please.


-Brother N

LTTP: Facebook

Have you seen this thing?? It's amazing. You make a profile, and dudes, wait for it, THAT YOU KNOW, can talk to you and junk! It's like some kind of......'social network'...Wow, thats deep...Ima patent that.

ANYWAY, go here if you want to show some facebook support.


-Brother N-

How can you say no to a flying tank?

Both myself and Brother N have been pretty excited about this game, and with each news article and gameplay video it has failed to disappoint. This is a "day one" title so we will give our impressions as soon as it hits store shelves here in OZ, which is real soon.

Heres the latest offering, displaying the VERY fun looking CO-OP mode.

Flying Tank anyone?

Mr Metal

Fable II Pub Games: Broken or Devious?

So news broke a few days ago about Fable II pub games being incredibly easily cheated in order to accrue an obscene amount of gold for use in game.

Giant Bomb bought up an interesting point in their latest podcast about the possibility that it was a deliberate ploy from Lionhead; Pay $10 or preorder, Get free money.

I have another possibility.

What's a new feature being pimped for Fable II? Purity VS Corruption. See where I'm going with this?

Could it be that Lionhead left an easy exploit in their game to see who could be corrupted by the temptation of free money?

I am betting yes. Time will tell.

So will you be starting Fable II a penniless innocent or a rich dude with a big set of fucking horns?

Update: I guess not. It was a nice theory....

-Brother N-

Consequence and gaming: The fall of the reset button

This wonderful little post from Mister Xbox aka Larry Hyrb aka Major Nelson details his wife racking up a nice little debt for him to look forward to in the upcoming Fable 2. You see, money you earn in Fable II Pub Games tranfers to money you can spend in the upcoming game. As does debt. While this is funny and cute, it brings up some interesting issues to do with consequence in gaming.

Knowing that my own poor luck could lead to a more difficult gaming experience, I am actually quite hesitant to play Pub Games. I aint no gambler. So I am literally turned off a game, that by all intended purposes should be encouraging me to play.

Here are some other games that have used effective and innovative means of implying conseqence;

Animal Crossing
Man, this one was a BITCH. There was a lot of random in this game (ignoring the batshit insane babble the characters would spout) and if you got a shitty deal, you're stuck with it. If you dare to switch off the game without saving, you will be verbally pummeled for damn near 10 real world minutes by the infamous 'Mr Resetti" the next time you load the game.

Grand Theft Auto 4 *SPOILERS ABOUND!*

A good chunk into the story you are offered a choice to off either the douchie Playboy X or the sad sack Dwayne. If you choose Dwayne, you are in for a rude shock, as you are treated to a brutally cold execution, an AMAZINGLY infuriating phone call from Playboy X and you lose the chance to own a sweet safe house that will never again be offered to you.

Mass Effect
Spare/Wipe out a particular species and you may erase a whole string of missions . Not to mention the typical Bioware Good cop/bad cop/indifferent cop approach to extracting information from NPCs. You want the right answers? Then watch your mouth!

Those are the first few that spring to mind that are actually able to wrap your knuckles in an effective way. So what do you prefer?

Do real consequences alter the way you play?

Hit the comments with more examples.

-Brother N-

The Empire stikes.... San Francisco?

Stumbled across this in my feeds today. Watch and enjoy.


Kinda eerie to watch, right? But also 20 types of awesome.

Mr Metal

Batman: Arkham Asylum, Please be good (Or why I love The Chronicles of Riddick)

Have you seen this yet?

My goodness. You cant deny the fact that, from what little we have seen so far, Batman: Arkham Asylum is looking HOT! Check out that Joker! Very evil. Very awesome. (Although all Jokers now pale in comparison to Heath ledger's amazing interpretation. RIP.) Batman is also looking dark and gritty, as he should be. Did anyone notice the screen of a holding cell with the question marks scribbled on the walls? The Riddler to appear maybe?

It looks to be drawing some heavy visual influence from The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. A sign of gameplay to come also? Who knows. Its waaaaay to early to tell. If you haven't played it (shame on you if you have not) Riddick blended FPS, third person action and stealth elements into a VERY shiny package for the Xbox and PC. I'm serious when I say shiny. Bump mapped to the nines! I loved that game, it was one of my faves from the last generation. So I for one would not complain if we were given a next gen re-skinned Batman'd version.

SO why I am I getting myself ready for disappointment? Am I becoming the pessimist I always said I would never become? Or am I just shielding myself from heartbreak?

Eidos, please hold me and tell me everything is going to be alright...........

Mr Metal

A Mr Metal appears!

First off, let me give you a little taste of who I am/what I do/what I like/why I do. Just so you can see what it tastes like.

I'm a 28 year old male, living in country Victoria. In this relatively small town I am lucky enough to have a job in Music Retail/Teaching which I enjoy 98.6% of the time. That's right. I'm one of those annoying bastards you have heard of who is "working" in his dream job. I sing, play guitar, drums, bass and I record my own original material. (fuck, I'm a superstar! *thumbs down*)

What I'm trying to say without sounding too much like a wanker is that music is my life. All music. Playing, listening, whatever. I love it all and Ill do it till I cant no more.

Along with Music, like Brother N, I have a mad passion for Games. Like pretty much ALL games, as you will soon find out. I'm generally not very picky for some reason. Not sure why. I guess there's alot of stuff out there, I just wanna make sure I don't miss any of it. Obviously if a game is shit, I wont keep playing it but If I think something is shit, its probably UTTER TRASH! Like vomit out your eyes bad. *note to Brother N: A possible rank in our rating system?*

I don't have a preference on game genre, I keep it very broad. Just like music. If you really love it, you shouldn't shackell yourself to one style/genre. Like dudes who listen to JUST METAL, or play nothing but FPSs. that would drive me fucking batty! Not to mention that it would burn me out on that particular thing. Dont get me wrong, I love both Metal and FPSs, but I also love modern folk and puzzle games. You can get so much from stuff that you wouldn't normally look at/listen to. If your one of those guys, give it a go. Thank me later :)

Like any good nerd I also love cinema/dvd/tech/toys with a sprinkling of TV and comics. Most recently though (in the last 18 months) I have become a MAD Hi Def enthusiast. I even bought a Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive..................... AT FULL PRICE! Mind you, this was about 6 months before the format war ending in favor of Blu Ray but I think that shows the kind of nerd I am. Hasty and not very smart. I also own a PS3 so I have my fingers in both Hi Def pies. Ewwww, sticky.

So Gaming. Why?

Oddly enough, gaming has always felt like a very social thing to me. "Mr Metal, gaming isn't a very socialble activity" I hear you say. Mainly because I'm sitting in the tree across from your house, spying on you as you read this.

I have always related playing games with hanging out with my favorite people. They seem to go hand in hand for me. From my earliest days of sharing turns on Super Mario Bros. on the NES with my sisters, to PC LAN events with mates, The Almightly Hammer game on Xbox Live, to most recently curling up on the couch with my lovely wife while I play Braid. And if I'm not playing with friends, I'm talking with my friends about my experiences of current/past games to expectations of future releases.

One of many reasons, but its the one reason that's resonated in me for as long as I can remember.

So there's a brief rundown of me. I look forward to sharing my news/views/general shit with you guys. Stay tuned :)

ALSO If you are on Xbox Live, look for my gamertag Mr Metal. Then stay tuned for a Halo 3 game invite.

I hope you like being hit with a gigantic hammer.........................

VIVA effing PIÑATA!

Ok so it's no secret, I love me some Viva Piñata. Many people think I'm taking the piss when I say that, but I am really, really not. Check the card. I'm about 20 game days off the 50 hour achievement.

So it fills me with man-glee to see that Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is released in a matter of weeks. So what's new? CO OP! This fantastic addition sees me with the ability to guilt fools into helping me create a master race of Quackberries.

Case in point.

Let's take a look at some communiqué between myself and the soon to be contributor, Mr Metal.

In response to a shared article about Coop being announced for VP: TIP

Brother N: JOY!! Community garden everyone!
Mr Metal: Does this mean I HAVE to buy it now?
Brother N: STARES AT HIS COPY OF HA-FUCKING-LO 3. YES. Yes it pissing well does.
Mr Metal: Touche. Well played, Sir.

END SCENE

Good times.

-Brother N-

Braid = My head asplode.

Click to paper your walls

Well, this one sure snuck up on me. Of the two download only titles coming out this week(that I care about), I thought I was going to love Pixeljunk Eden. I played it, its neat and looks unique.
To be honest, from the small amount of Braid I'd seen, I wasn't that pumped. It looked a bit style over substance.

How wrong I was.

I'm not even going to go into the mechanics of the game, because I want everybody to go into it as cold as I did. The less you know the better. The one thing I will say is that I get a very 'Portal' feeling from it.

That makes me feel very good.


-Brother N-

BREAKING NEWS: FEMINISTS ANGRY AT SOMETHING

1up.com is reporting on several Feminist bloggers who are upset with the new PSN title, Fat Princess. What's amusing to me about this isn't the completely predictable angry response, it's that there is a variable cornucopia of far worse female stereotypes present in games.

Case in point, Princess flipping Peach. Dumber than 10 bags of extra dumb hammers and easier to catch than herpes in St Kilda. Someone enjoying pastries is insulting but this shit is ok?

On that point, why the hell aren't I pissed off at the Gears of War team for portraying guys as neckless testicles in armour? We aren't all brave and massive you know! Some of us are lame!

This quote is perfect: "I'm positively thrilled to see such unyielding dedication to creating a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative assholes"

Yeah, this is what's creating fat hatred. Aren't they fighting and dying to PROTECT her? It's not like they are fattening her up, loading her into a trebuchet and hurling her at the opposing castle.

That will come later as DLC.

-Brother N-

Neon is my bitch

The day I got my Xbox 360, I remember looking around my crowded lounge at my friends that had come to be wowed by its incredible visuals and saying "wow.....looks pretty good eh...?" and receiving a more than limp "yeah.....pretty good" in response.

Granted my 50cm standard def didn't do to much more the reasonably weak looking Saints Row, but they were right. What was the game that made me believe? Geometry Wars Retro Evolved.

So now Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 is out and man, I believe again. Its back, and this time its an even more of a frenetic glowing vector neon aneurysm, bursting all over your 1080p panel (amount of Ps in your panel may differ than that described)

So what's new this time? MODES! Yes, that's right, modes. Each one of these is unique in its own way and really changes up the gameplay. This is SO welcome for a game that can and will savagely punish you. After a nerve wracking pummelling, you can now just have a crack at something a little different with a different play mechanic, and that's more welcome than Nathan Fillion at an "I'm fucking awesome" convention.

-Brother N-

iPhone resurrection.

It's been touted as the Jesus phone, and it has resurrected my poor dormant blog.

Hurrah!

It has been neglected of late, but I got plans for this sucker...

Back to the phone. My good friend B Money and I decided a while ago that this was the phone to get and after some work wangling and a face-splitting 4am wakeup, we managed to get one day one.

So what's so good about it? 'MY PHOEN HAZ GPS TOO!! ITZ NOT EVUN THAT GOOD!! NO RINGTONEZ LULZ' I hear the angry forum posts bubble. You know what? You're right. It does just do the same shit as every other smartphone (is that term outdated? It sounds outdated), it just does them better. And not even on a technical level, I'm talking on a purely superficial level.

Nothing is buried in menus, everything has big text, SMS works more like chat and on and on and on. Removing the shitty user interface barriers mean people actually using the stupid amount of features most mobile phones sport.

Is that a bad thing? Fuck no. I think use of your phone SHOULD focus on superficiality. Do you concentrate on your phone for hours on end? No, you get in, do a thing, and put it down again.

This thing is built for that style of use.

And thats before we even got to the cavalcade of applications we have coming out daily.

On the downside...I'm now compelled to Twitter my every ridiculous thought.

-Brother N

Rock Band to slip to September for Aus

News dropped this week about the slight price hike in their version of Rockband. By slight I mean twice the amount of its US counterpart, not to mention some baffling bundling, which includes the entirely useless 'All the instruments but not the game' edition which is great if you just want to sit in front your dormant TV banging on plastic drums and sobbing.

That's really sucks for you Europe, it really does. Well, buck up, because your aren't THE most fucked in the arse territory in the world.

Ebgames AU website is now suggesting September as a release for Australia. Are you fucking kidding me. Could we be any less of a priority?

Seeing as we already pay double what our US friends pay for games, I can't wait to see the price insanity that Rockband will bring. $400? Why not!?

If you offer a starving man a shit sandwich, chances are he's going to eat it.

-Brother N-

Grandios fuck you, Theft of content and Automatic censorship

A couple of months ago I pre-ordered the 'I have more money than sense' edition of Grand Theft Auto IV. The idea of it being censored didn't even enter my head as GTA: San Andreas was left untampered here in Australia.

I was one of the early adopters of GTAIII who was lucky enough to get the game before OFLC decided to take a hacksaw to it. When GTA: Vice City reared its tightly permed head it became obvious that our government again wanted to play babysitter and decide what we should play. I decided to grab a copy from the progressive nation of New Zealand, where instead of changing the content they change the rating system.

Preemptively I again got the next installment, GTA: San Andreas from New Zealand. This turned out to be a waste of time as the AU version had nothing altered in it, but still contains the elements that had the game originally altered.

Odd.

Apart from the obvious 'average age of gamers in Australia is 28" argument, which is now a pile of mince where a dead horse once was, my main sticking point is the lack of consistency.

One year it's ok to bag hookers, then the next year it's not. Graffiti is banned (see Marc Eckos: Getting Up), illegal street racing isn't (see NFS Underground series). Severing limbs, banned (see Dark Sector). Explosives tearing off limbs, fine and dandy (see too many to mention). Purchasing and consuming drugs, no probs (see Saints Row). Non-playable unfinished sex minigame buried in code, PULL THAT SHIT OFF THE SHELVES! (see GTA:San Andreas)

Saving kids or nannying adult gamers?

In a society in which I can happily buy shit that has categorically been proven to fucking kill you (see Tabacco products, Alcohol, Gilmore Girls dvds) I am unable to buy a game in which I might see a poorly rendered titty.

Fuck you.

Protest and buy your game from New Zealand.

-Brother N-

PS. YOU AREN'T THE BOSS OF ME!!

The Home Hammer game

During one of my regular bottom of the ladder rounds of Call of Duty 4, 'the Hammer Game' from Halo 3 was briefly mentioned and sorely missed.

The group of guys I play flirted briefly with Master of Chiefs and his spartan buddies, but after the fucking lackluster single player campaign was done away with and a series of shitty online matches, it was traded on mass.

One thing we did enjoy though was the aforementioned 'Hammer game'. This was basically a time filler that we fired up waiting for everybody to come online. It consisted of a variant of King of the Hill, Low Gravity, rockets and hammers only on Valhalla. People would rush to the hill, slow to a crawl and then smash each other like green armored pinatas. It was so dumb and so, so awesome. We eventually stopped looking for online games, and just kept playing the Hammer Game.

-Brother N-

That's what Playstation Home needs to be. I know they have promised bowling...*cough* but they really need to think sideways on this one. Let blow each other up, let us play paintball, let us make lego villages...to then blow up.

Burnout Paradise: Adding salt to your wounds.

Ok, before you jump to conclusions, this is not an irrational blast at the latest of the Burnout series. For what I've played, which is around 10 hours on and offline, it's exactly what I wanted. Light-weight, fuck around racing.

What I don't like, is DJ fucking Atomika. I get his purpose, to subtly give the player tips. Cool. And hey, at least he's not the super obnoxious over the top fuckheads from Burnouts past.

So what does he do wrong? The second you lose and event this ARSEHOLE chimes in with some smarmy insult consisting of "News just in of some shitty racer being utterly horrible and fat across Paradise, and I DJ Atomika only give mad props to the awesomest of the awesome" . Or how about one of his fabulous handy 'tips' which are pretty much made up of the following;
"When you're in a race/stunt run/road rage/burning run/marked man, its important to try and go fastest/do stunts/win/go fast/not die, and that will help win and not lose, like you just did. DJ Atomika here, telling you the bleeding fucking obvious."

This guy is seriously my motivation to win. Just so I don't have to choke one of my couch cushions to death each time he pipes up.

-Brother N-

PS and NO turning Tips off in the options menu does not shut him up. He's like the fucking wolf man.....I gotta find a silver bullet.

Assasin's Creed PC: How does 'Fuck You' sound?

Fresh news has just cropped up about the shiny new 'now its your turn' version of Assassin's Creed on the PC and what else can i say to the developers but 'Go suck a dick!'

What's the problem? New shit. More missions, different investigations. Being as my poor old PC is as tragic as one of those dogs with broken back legs replaced by wheels, I probably wont be playing this title. But as previously stated, i did play Ass Creed through on the 360. By the end, I had also suffered the 'Ass fatigue' that many a reviewer described. It was fun but lack of variation slowly ground me into a fine paste of frustration.

So how do you fix these problems? MOARE STUFFS TO DO! But not for you dumb fuckers who have spent a small portion of you life collecting FLAGS for some DOUCHEBAG who can't because it's TOO FUCKING HOT TODAY. HOW ABOUT YOU TAKE THE BALACLAVA OFF MATE?! THAT MIGHT COOL YOUR LAZY FUCKING ARSE DOWN!!

I don't even give a toss if they release it as DLC, I traded that shit in. Here's a trick, WAIT for a few more months AND GIVE ME A BETTER FUCKING GAME, rather than WAITING AND RELEASING A BETTER FUCKING GAME ON A DIFFERENT FUCKING PLATFORM just so you can scoop up a few more sales from the Assassin's Creed psychopaths that collected all 18.6 billion flags from each city.

So Fuck you Ass Creed PC, and while where at it, Fuck you Gears 'O' War PC, for denying the people who made the game a success a chance to fight the real boss. Not some tool wearing a BAT-COAT.

-Brother N-

Burnout Babies

I was listening to the entertaining CAGcast, Cheap Ass Gamer's weekly podcast, yesterday where CheapyD mentioned his disappointment in the Burnout Paradise demo. I have heard the exact sentiment in other gaming podcasts, am I missing something?

Burnout 3: Takedown was the game that made me buy an Xbox. I played it a lot. So when Revenge came out, I was well pumped for it. After playing it for a little while, I was left disappointed. It was still cool, but aside from some tweaks, it was fundamentally the same as Takedown.

So now, people want the same thing, again? In a community that lays wreaths of praise on the original and scandalises the propagation of easy sequels, how can you sit back and bitch when somebody tries to invigorate a series with innovation?

-Brother N-