Retro/Grade is Bass Aackwards

This is why I dig PSN. This game looks equal parts fucking awesome and "God, I really don't want to play this because it's going to make me pull my hair." Still, love the thinking of 24 Caret Games. Something diffenet is always welcome in the face of seemingly every game this holiday season having a fucking number behind it.

Last MAG Monday video: Command and control

Video Games | MAG | Exclusive Command & Control Dev Diary HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

MAG still is looking like a really fun time. Could it have long legs like COD4, that STILL have insane amounts of players? Very possible if you check out the video. Still can't get behind that name, though.....

J.

Will MAG have the last laugh?

What was the the biggest joke in Sony's E3 press conference last year? MAG. An FPS with 256 players and a terrible name. Game journalists scoffed at it as "another Sony fail." I'll admit that I thought that Zipper would have changed the name by now to SOCOM something. But at this point, if the game turns out the be a success, they can rub it in everyone's face. But I'm getting off track......

Jump ahead to this year's Sony press con and MAG isn't looking like a joke. It's looking and sounding really cool. It's like some of the best parts of COD4 and (of all games) Warhawk, competitive/Co-Op gameplay with a huge amount of players. Now, I'll admit that the player count does worry me. While in some cases, (like the smaller Headquarters maps on COD4) chaos can be really fun. But a whole game based around possibly hundreds of people shooting at each other could run very thin quickly. But, in an interview with IGN via Podcast Beyond, (interview starts at 28:00) lead designer Andy Bodwin talked about how the action would ramp up. Starting you out in a smaller group of 4 to 8 to let you get the feel of the tactical side of the game and working as a team, battles and objectives soon escalate to larger and larger scale until you end up in a 128 vs. 128, 300-style showdown. If pulled off correctly, the tension and feel of being in a full scale war should be as real as you could get on a console.

The real test is going to be that feeling that at anytime, a group from the other team could show up and the fight would be on. Maybe your support will be able to help you and maybe you'll have to go it alone and hope for the best. It's a difficult feeling to convey in a game. The most resent attempt would be the final battle in Killzone 2. (link contains spollers)

In an interview with Gamespot @ E3, Andy and CJ from Zipper talk about the "Dangling the Carrot" gameplay that is going to play into your progression in the game and how the world will continue whether or not you are playing. Sounds like the near perfect COD4 Perk system will be used here as well. Also sounds very MMO inspired. DLC and expanded locations and scenarios are very interesting if done correctly.

After watching the latest MAG Monday video via Gametrailers.com, I'm thinking that this is game is going to be a bigger deal than people might be giving it credit for. Granted that it's still early, but I trying to keep an open mind about things. It's a flaw. Check the all the MAG Monday vids below.

Video Games | MAG | Exclusive Shadow War Dev Diary

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Video Games | MAG | Exclusive 256 Dev Diary

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Video Games | MAG | Exclusive PMCS Dev Diary

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

J.

That’s Right: Two Final Fantasies in 2010

It’s old news by now (it's even our new header), but I had to comment on it. Last week I caught about fifteen minutes of Sony’s press conference before a rainstorm knocked my satellite’s signal out of commission. Lucky for me, I tuned in just in time to see them show a preview of Final Fantasy XIII, and then follow that up by saying “but Square Enix isn’t done yet, they’ve got another thing to follow it up,” and proceeded to show a trailer for Final Fantasy XIV, which was followed up with the statement “that one didn’t leak out, huh?” and a promise that it would be out by 2010, exclusively for PS3. Pretty shocking, considering that FF games are usually spread out with huge gaps because of massive development time.

But doing some digging, it starts to make sense. FFXIV will be a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), setting it apart from FFXIII’s story based play. Square already has ventured into MMORPG territory with Final Fantasy XI, and probably want to get a new online game out to compete with WoW. It’s great news for console gamers, and especially PS3 owners. And maybe with all the other Final Fantasy stuff coming out now and in the near future (FF games on Wii’s Virtual Console including the recent release of FFIV The After Years, FFXIII, FFXIII Versus and the FF Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers) two FF games for one console in a year isn’t that surprising. But is Square Enix giving the fans what they want or flogging a dead horse?

Max

Holy Shit...........someone is going to be pissed.

God of War, as a series, has always been pretty brutally violent. But this is almost too far. Someone is going to be really, really pissed off. Pulling the eye out of the gorgan looking thing was the icing on the cake. Oh, and I'm totally preordering this business as so as I get the chance.

J.

The best E3 trailers: Uncharted 2

Holy shit again!!! I don't think anyone thinks this game is going to be anything but awesome. This demo had me ducking and dodging like a really good action movie. Which is what they were going for. The collapsing building was the capper for me. I'm going to get this one day one. And the online stuff could be cool as well. More about this later today. (maybe)


J.

The best E3 trailers: Metal Gear Solid: Rising

Well, 360 owners finally have MGS on their console. But it's not MGS4 like people thought. It's the next MGS game starring our favorite cyber-ninja, Raiden. It didn't show alot, but come on. It's MGS. It'll be great. And in case you were wondering, yes, it IS coming out on PS3 as well. Don't get your hopes up on stealing any Sony's exclusives this year.

J.

I'm in the Uncharted 2 beta.....

With me taking the State Medical board test, I missed Nintendo's press conference and almost missed Sony's, but I got done early and caught the whole thing. It was awesome! I'll follow up on the cons later. One of the highlights was Uncharted 2. The demo was really cool and made me hyped to get the game. One of the things that Jack Trentton mentioned was that the Uncharted 2 online beta was starting tonight at midnight. Sweet deal. And guess who's in?

More on the beta when I get home.


J.

Fat Princes beta: first hour impressions

Note: I hit this up a few days ago. I tightened some parts up and I'm posting it up from here in Seattle, en route to Hawaii. Check it out and I'll be back next week with more fun.


As I dropped earlier, I was able to get into the Fat Princess beta test. I'm good like that, I guess, seeing that this is my fifth beta I've participated in. But you don't want to hear about that.

But first, a description of the game. From Wikipedia:

"Fat Princess puts the player on a team consisting of up to 32 male and female cartoon characters, with the main goal in the game to rescue their team's princess held captive by an opposing team, although team-deathmatch and other online modes are also available. The player can choose from ten dessert-themed levels such as Coco Cliffs and Black Forest.

At the beginning of the game, each of the teams will already have their opponent's princess held captive. In order to make their opponent's task in rescuing her more difficult, the player can give more and more food to the princess they have captured, so that she will become fatter and heavier, and the opponent's team will need larger number of players to carry her.

The game's mechanics have the player control a standard 3D, cel-shaded, character at the fort, castle, or stronghold. There are five machines at the player's fort, each producing hats. Depending on which hat gets picked up and put on, the player gets different abilities. The game consists of five classes: the mage, priest, warrior, worker and archer. Each has its own set of unique weapons and play style."

That's the facts. Now I will say that ever since Sony showed this game last year, we haven't heard much about it. Something I think Sony should take to heart. Much like Killzone 2, keeping the game under wraps gives the developers more room to move and make the game, rather than constantly answering questions about why ths game will 'save' the PS3. The game looks really good. It runs very well with all the chaos running rampant on the battlefield. The menus, like everything in the game, are full of humor and tongue in cheek moments. There is a custom character menu, and as you play the game, more and more custom parts become available for you little avatar. Some are really funny and cool. I'll say that a Mr.T-like mohawk should show up at some point. The backgrounds give you an idea what the game is going to play like and again, everything so far was very well laid out. There is an option to play online and to play LAN style offline. I jumped online and dove head first into the fray.

The general combat is very open ended and seems to cater to alot of different play styles. The two gametypes, Deathmatch and CTP are standard fare for the multiplayer online games, but it's the class system that makes everything come together. The hack and slash, all in your face, on the front line type players will dig the warrior class. More background/support players will dig the priest and the archers. The key to the game is upgrading your hats, which makes the worker the backbone of the game. The fast paced nature of the game and the non-binding style of play (you are able to change classes on he fly by picking up different hats on the battlefield as well as in you castle) make for a quick and crazy game and alot of fun. If you play with flattening out anyone in your path or using strategy to break down the enemies castle doors, you'll have a good time playing.

The blood and gore can be turned off for people sensitive about such things, but the game gets BLOODY quick. It's a trip to see head popping off an enemy as you chuck a bomb from you upgraded worker. It starts looking like Braveheart after two or three minutes. Choke points, like a bridge in the middle of the map (only one mag in the beta so far) make the players start thinking quick about teamwork.The team that has a priest and some archers are going to fair better than the team that has nothing but warriors. I found myself, like in most online games, backing up a fellow player (that later friended me so we could play the beta more at a later date) going over said bridge in the middle of the map. Just over the bridge is a mini castle that your team can take over for points. Both teams seem to meet here to rumble. We went into it two on their four and did ok. He was a priest and I was a worker and we smacked them down, took over the mini and head over the next bridge to the enemy main castle where we were met by about eight players that completely destroyed us. Not a game to 'go it alone' for sure.

You get points for almost every action in the game. From getting resources for your hat machines to shooting and killing enemies to picking up the princess, it adds up and unlocks items and other goodies we're told. It looks ripe for DLC like maps and possible new classes. It really fits into the perception that PSN has different game experiences then your arcade rehashes. It seems like this is going to be beating up the bandwidth on the Playstation Network soon.

For someone that enjoys team based online games rather all out war fragfests, Fat Princess is going to take alot of time from me. Hopefully, the trophies and challenges will be interesting provide some more ways to play the game outside people's comfort zone. I really dig the game after an hour and I do plan on buying this one day one. Hopefully, girls don't take this too personally. It's campy fun. Bloody, campy fun.

J.

I'm in the Fat Princess beta

Keeping in the tradition of me getting into Sony beta tests, (Warhawk, Home, Littlebigplanet) I just got an invite code to Titan Games much hyped multiplayer PSN exclusive. The game is downloading as we speak. I'll try to get a few impressions up on the site before I take off for a few weeks to enjoy some R and R in Hawaii. It's hard out there for a pimp I hear........


J.

Killzone 2 DLC: might as well jump.

Is it just me, or was gametrailers TV actually good last night? On the show that brought us some gameplay videos of Bioshock 2, comes the big reveal of the first Killzone 2 DLC maps. Titled Steel and Titanium, the two maps are as different from the current multiplayer maps as you can get. Set inside the ISA's home spaceship, The New Sun map looks like a snipers paradise. Bad news for me as I seem to get shot from millions of miles away when I play the game now. But, that's what I get for going back and playing Warhawk and Call of Duty 4 again this week. Multi-level maps are cool just to get the drop on people by jumping down and wasting enemies in mid air. Possibly alot of forcing people off the deck while they run from hordes shooting at them as well. Hooray for cheap kills!

The Wasteland Bullet map is the one that I'm going to either hate or love. It takes place on two trains speeding down the rails. Shooting is going to be fun, provided that no gravity physics pull bullets from intended targets. The real love/hate thing will be the jumping from train to train. I can tell you now, I WILL die numerous times by getting smashed like a bug trying to outrun someone plugging me in the back with bullets.

Both look like very cool updates to a great game and will be out at the end of the month. No price was given, but I figure it won't be so hard on your wallet. Sony has been doing a really great job with marketing Killzone 2. Sure, there aren't any branded Mt. Dew bottles or trailers before Star Trek, but the word is out and people are buying. Let's hope they keep up the streak.

J.

Bioshock 2 looks fucking awesome! (for lack of a better word)

I liked Bioshock. Alot. So when word came out about a sequel, I was all about it. And then, when they dropped that it would be coming to PS3 day and date, I was subsequently more happy. But, as the internet does, worry started to set in. Did Bioshock really need a sequel? Why does Bioshock 2 have mulitplayer? (and a question I want answered as well.) What is it going to look like? Well, thanks to Gametrailers.com, we now know the answer to that question. Fucking awesome!

The atmosphere is still there from the 2 minute clip shown on the tv show. (and on the website as well) Following the Big Sister down blood stained hallways until you get to a huge room with a glass window. The next thing you know, she's cutting the glass and you're being crushed under a ton on rushing water. That's all I needed to see. I'm sold. Let's hope that we see more of this game soon and that it doesn't take a wrong turn somewhere. That would be a shame.

Check out the video for yourself.

J.

Killzone 2 Kountdown: Scout and Saboteur Badges

Not really a countdown anymore, but still cool and interesting stuff from Killzone 2. This time, it's the Saboteur Badge. Cloaking is one of those things that sucks ass if you're not using it. The Scout, as well, has a cloaking style device that works only while standing still. The Scout is the only one that uses the sniper rifle in multiplayer. I just saw one of these guys last night while I was playing online. He was doing a Terminator 2-like 'breaking down into another form' animation. He looked like one of my guys, but I figured that something was up so I shot his ass. Chalk one point up for me.

This game's multiplayer is really interesting and makes me want to keep playing more and more to use the different badges. More videos soon, since I think they are all out at this point.




Saboteur Badge



Scout Badge


J.

Word on the Street: PS3 price drop next week

"Ps3 needs a price drop" has been the mantra of gamers for and against the system for a while now. Developers have been saying it. Analysts have been saying it. Everyone has been saying it. Well, the word on the street is that next week, people are going to get their wish.

Originally posted at 2old2play.com, an EB Games employee mentioned a PS3 price drop would be occurring Sunday March 22nd, just in advance of the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) this year. Internal memos and store paperwork are said to confirm this. If true, Sony's console will be in the thick of the current-gen pay scale with the 360 and the Wii. Which, in turn one would think, would start turning people on to picking up a PS3 and Sony can start making up some ground in North America.


Me? True or not, I don't think that a price drop will help with hardcore detractors of the system. Chances are that they will just find something else to bitch about the PS3 not doing or having. Valve isn't going to start making PS3 games due to a price drop. Home isn't going to start being good in the eyes of most due to $100 being knocked off. "Still no backwards compatibility" will become the new tagline of the PS3, replacing the now standard "PS3 needs a price drop."

But hey, I could be wrong. Those Killzone 2 commercials are still on.......alot.


J.

In Deck: School's out forever.........

Well, it's been a long road, but I'm done with school as of yesterday. Thank you. Other then making up time I missed while enjoying myself in Hawaii, I've got nothing but time on my hands. Well, outside of getting plans together for my new business. But in the meantime, it's time to catch up on some games. And there has been ALOT of games I've been playing and that I've really wanted to play. It feels good to not have to have to get up early on the weekends at stare into an anatomy book. Anyway, on to the games......

Peggle




I don't doubt that casual games are here to stay. I like alot of them. It's the notion that all games are going, and should go, in this this direction is what bothers me. I don't mind the thought of the "casual" game and the "hardcore" existing together, though. My personal favorites are of the Pop Cap variety. Bejeweled 2 and Peggle being the ones getting the most play for me. Bejeweled 2 is my first foray into the world of casual. And it's awesome as you already know, but Peggle really got me. It's the simplest premise, erase all the orange pegs. It's likely the perfect casual game. One where it's simple to learn, but after you look up at the clock and realize that you've been playing for three hours. It's a good time. Sometimes I hope it's not too good.

Peggle is out on every platform you can think off (except PS3...for now) From $10 to free.


Magic Ball



This Breakout clone is still fun. Played more over the course of a few weeks of late night studying. And got 100% of the trophies in the game, a first for me. Seems like I'll be able to show you by this time tomorrow. Again, if you like your games on the casual side and you like Breakout/Arkanoid clones, check it out.

Magic Ball is out for $10 on PSN


Fallout 3



Jumped into Fallout 3 for a second. I'm two bobbleheads away from Vault-Tec CEO trophy. I'm very close to the end of the game, so bailed and am roaming around being a general badass, mowing down anyone in my way in the process. It's hard to get back into the game since I've really wanted to start Oblivion again. Playing both at the same time could destroy my life. Fallout 3 could be my first platinum trophy. More on this soon.

Fallout 3 is out on PS3, 360 and PC; 360 and PC have exclusive DLC for $60


On Deck..........

Killzone 2




Not much more can be said. Thanks to Amazon.com's retarded "one day shipping," I am getting KZ2.....today. Yeah. THREE DAYS after release. But, that's water under the bridge. I plan on getting into the possibly the most talked about game of all time. Reviews seem to say it lives up to the hype. Halo killer? People don't want Halo to die, so it won't. No matter what. So stop it with the "killer" tag. It's sounds like an awesome game with awesome multiplayer variants. I'll have my story about my first hour with the game up soon.


Hope you're doing ok and that your playing something cool.

J.

Killzone 2 Kountdown: Assault and Engineer Badges

I figured that I'd jump on the bandwagon and drop some Killzone 2 heat. First, we have the badges for the Assault and Engineer classes in multiplayer. It sounds alot like Team Fortress 2 to me, which for me is cool. You know, since TF2 kind of sucks on PS3. The Engineer class seems like the class I'll be messing with initially. Having sentries shooting the shit out of people around corners while they are unaware is a very satisfying way to win a game. Reminds me of owning people in Goldeneye on N64 with the Laptop gun. Having started COD4 as of late, I look forward to shooting you in the face in a few days.



Assault class and badges



Engineer class and badges


More coming soon.

J.

Opinion: Sony fans SHOULDN'T care if Square Enix RPGs are on the 360

In the shadow of Star Ocean: The Last Hope being released and getting pretty good reviews, I started thinking about the other RPGs Square Enix has released on the 360 this generation. Sure, PS3 early adopters were more than aliitle upset with the defection of Square’s flagship game, Final Fantasy 13 to the competition, Mircosoft’s Xbox360. And more still at the sight of SE throwing more and more support behind the 360, while leaving the PS3 out in the cold has fans worried. But after reviewing the reviews and opinions about the RPGs released so far, I wonder why people are so up in arms about the move.


It started with Infinite Undiscovery. And the results were not as pretty as SE and MS would have liked. The mighty Metacritic has it sitting at a interesting 68 out of 100. Most gaming outlet panned it, saying mostly that the presentation was flawed and full of all the clichés of most JRPGs. While some, like X-Play, praised the combat. Others like Gameradar, called the system “unsatisfying.” The game did well for the 360, selling about 400,000 copies. Making the new marriage seem, at the time, like peas and carrots.



Up next was The Last Remnant. And things seemed to go south. The game, again, was relatively met with mediocre reviews. And again, the Metacritic score lingers around 65 out of 100. Reviewers sited the game’s “repetitive battles, cluttered screens, and annoying 'quests'” (Gamepro) and “abysmal frame-rate problems and awful texture pop-in as well as obtuse combat mechanics” (Gamespot) as major problems. Gametrailer put at an 8.0, citing “The Last Remnant is a hard game to judge. A person's enjoyment of it will be directly related to how much they can tolerate the persistent graphical issues.” X-Play and IGN shared the sentiment, saying that the presentation was not up to par. X-Play went so far as to criticizing “the load screens, long cutscenes, and the battle system, saying the game played itself.” It didn’t seem to set the world on fire, but sold well at about 550,000 copies.


So, this leads us to the next in the line of SE RPGs only for 360, Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Reviews are filtering in and they are sounding good. IGN’s review is good for the game and will sell well regardless of reviews or Metacritic scores. But where does that leave the Sony brand? A console that doesn’t have a lot of JRPGs? Nothing. Fallout 3 was the game of the year and is a blast to play. The over-looked Folklore was very good, albeit different kind of role playing. The CRIMINALLY over-looked Valkyrie Chronicles is an awesome game that people who complain about the PS3 not having games need shoved in their asshole. On top of the other non RPG, PS3-only games that you know about already and the gems on PSN like PJ Monsters, Burnout Paradise, Super Stardust HD and Warhawk and I say “Why worry about games you aren’t going to play anyway?” (well, The Last Remnant is coming soon, but whatever)


The perception that Sony has no games is almost taken as a painstaking fact by the general public, even though it’s an outdated claim only used by partisan console owners and well…..fanboys. With Sony getting great reviews on the exclusives that are out (Flower; Pixel Junk Monsters) and that are coming out, (Killzone 2) Sony fans shouldn’t worry about what’s going on the other side. Sure, 360 folks have been riding high in the quality games department for awhile, but the PS3 is coming along alot better then people think. Stop worrying about what other people have and you don't .You should buy games that are out (and are rated great to awesome) before bitching about betrayals and whatnot.

And buy Valkyrie Chronicles already, lugnuts……….

J.

Dee Jay and T. Hawk Gone in SF4 but not Forgotten!

I haven’t posted in awhile as I’ve had the blahs so bad; blahs that I'm happy to report have been cured by my recent purchase of Street Fighter IV. I even sprung for the Collector’s Edition (which is now going on Amazon for $129—sheesh!). It’s a great game and I plan to post impressions as soon as I get past what to say besides “It’s a lot like playing Street Fighter II, but newer, fresh and different somehow,” and “that last boss Seth guy is cheaper than any SNK boss ever. And what kind of name is 'Seth' for a final boss anyway?!?”

In the meantime, you may recall the brief article we did on SFIV’s full lineup, where we reported that the whole Super Street Fighter II Championship Edition gang would be there…except T. Hawk and Dee Jay. It seems these characters, one an apparently unwanted Mexican and the other the only Street Fighter created by an American (and thus presumably uncool to Japanese developers) had no place in the annals of new Street Fighter IV glory. Then again, maybe they did…and still might!

IGN has the goods from a recent Famitsu interview with SFIV producer Yoshinori Ono, who revealed that 3D models of both Dee Jay and T. Hawk were created for Street Fighter IV originally and the development team actually spent time working out how T. Hawk would fight in the new game. No reason was given for the fact the pair were ultimately left out, but Ono claims that if there’s enough demand from the fans, they may be added at a later time—though did not specify how (presumably through DLC for the home versions). Ono also hinted that if there’s enough user support there will be a Championship Edition of the game; no details were given on what that might include (more characters? Other modes? An excuse to re-live the multitude of Street Fighter II rehashes?).

So fans, it’s up to us. What are you waiting for? Start emailing Capcom, posting on their boards and others’ message boards and demanding these two characters on your own blogs! Their exclusion defies reason and they deserve to kick butt right alongside SFIV characters new and old! Get to it! We want Dee Jay and T. Hawk and we want them now!

Max

The new Killzone 2 TV ad (is awesome)

I'm a PS3 owner. As a PS3 owner, I've been subjected to shitty ports, half hearted "such and such" killer apps, low expectations and doomsayers predicting the end of Sony at every turn. I'll admit that I doubted Sony. I didn't think that Sony could pull off anything that could change peoples' minds about the black box, but after watching the the new Killzone 2 TV ad......wow. I'll have to admit that I was wrong.

The trailer is very subtle while showing nothing but action and mayhem on the battlefield. (All in-engine, if you were wondering). I was reminded of the "Madworld" ads for Gears of War, without the catchy music. Sure, I was looking forward to the most debated game in history to see what the hubbub was about, but in the last few weeks, I've really gotten on the train for Killzone 2. The nearly across the board praise for the game, to mainstream gaming outlets having seemingly no choice but to admit that Killzone 2, in fact, lives up to the hype and passes it by and now, TV ads. Wow. Sony could be......well....let's wait until next week and see.

If you have doubts about what the PS3 can do and whether or not you should save some money and pick one up, I say, watch this ad. And if you STILL think that the PS3 is a waste of time, i really don't know what to say to you. Wait for halo 3 ODST on 360? Or.....whatever else Mircosoft has this year.

J.

In Deck: Tax Return Edition

Sure, it's alittle early for talk of taxes and W-2s and whatnot, but for people who don't have much of a social life, it's one more thing to start on while everyone else is out having fun. So, while you all while popping bottles on New Year's Eve, my wife and I were getting our last paystubs together and rocking the tax info.
So, jump to now. I just cashed a $5200 return check. Hey, the nerds will inherit the earth. In the meantime, I got some new games and you didn't. So, here we go.......


MAGIC BALL (PSN)

Saw this game a few months ago. I'm a sucker for Breakout/Arkanoid ripoffs and this game is really simple to get into. Casual to say the least, your only goal is to return the ball, a soccer ball to exact, into various backdrops. Destroying pirate ships and forests full of dragons is more fun than it sounds. The trophies are your standard "get a million points" and "collect XYZ" type deals, but thay are good for the style of game it is. My only beef with it is that it launched with only two levels, dooming it to the "wait and see" type deal like what plagued Pain for so long. It really could go in a lot of interesting places. Space, anyone?
Magic Ball is out now for $10



 LUMINES SUPERNOVA (PSN)

I like Lumines. A lot. I've talked about this a few times here. Well, I'm still rocking it and having a good time with it. Not doing so hot on the trophy front, earning only four of the 11 or so. Dig down mode is a bitch that I seem to fuck up on about level 7-9. Sucks, but not so hard that I don't want to play anymore, but it makes me try again. And again. Going to sleep at 3am because you had to try to beat Dig Down one more time isn't the move. I Haven't messed around with the music making part too much. I'd like it more if you could use your own samples in the grid. I could release a CD of music made by Lumines to listen to WHILE you play Lumines. Awesome thought. Let's hope the game gets some new skins and modes soon.

Lumines Supernova is out now for $15

Midnight Club LA (PS3)

As a non-driver, I never really understand why I like racing games so much. With the exception of Gran Turismo series, I'm pretty good at all of them. Midnight Club being my favorite of the street racing games, I've been a fan since MC2 on PS2. And after MC3:remix, I really didn't know what else Rockstar could do with the Club. Well, Rockstar knows how to treat their franchise games and they have opened up the city of LA and made some of the best street races I've ever played. Most of the races so far are pretty heart wrenching. Highway battles, circuit races that drift into oncoming traffic and the crazy amount of online options you can do in this game, I'm having my hands full with things to do. I really like the way that Rockstar tries to expend the online modes in their games outside what most games do. The car rating system is interesting and a fun way to include the community. Most people have terrible taste in design, but it's still a fun mode to play around with. As it stands now, none of my rides are good enough to embarrass myself by adding my ride to the fray. Not even for the trophy. Still a great game, and the upcoming South Central DLC sounds cool. Hope there are some low riders I can bump some Dr.Dre while hittin' them conas in them lo-lo's, girl…….

Sorry about that.

Midnight Club LA is out now.

 That's it for now. More later. Mostly about Killzone 2 and Korg DS-10.

J.