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