Today, Capcom issued a Press Release, announcing that they would be releasing the first three entries in the Nintendo DS Ace Attorney series on Nintendo’s, starting with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney in January, with Phoenix Wright: Justice for All and Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations to be released in the following months.
To read the Press Release, go past the break.
Welcome to Pandora, a wasteland planet full of hostile bandits, mercenaries, and alien wildlife. It is also home to a legendary wellspring of wealth and alien technology known only as “The Vault,” something that many people believe is a myth…and something many desire to find. This is the setting to 2K Games and Gearbox Software’s First-Person Role Playing Shooter, Borderlands. Having had the chance to play it at PAX 2009, albeit very briefly, I had a few vague ideas about what the gameplay would be like. First-Person Shooters are a dime a dozen these days, but I was under the impression that Borderlands would be a whole different experience. And, I am glad to report, it didn’t disappoint. I spent a good 20+ hours taking on the main story and I enjoyed every minute of it. (more…)
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So, I got the chance to hang out with Joe Peacock this past Thursday after a book signing he did at a Borders at the Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco. For those of you who where unable to make it but were curious to see what Joe had to say. Unfortunately, due to poor planning, my battery died about five minutes before Joe finished, so it cuts out at the end. Also, Joe is a really funny guy, so laughing at everything he said caused the camera to shake a lot and unfortunately I had no tripod. Also, you may want to turn up the volume on this if you want to hear him clearly.
If you who don’t know who Joe Peacock is, that tells me two things: 1) You don’t listen to our podcast and 2) You’re missing out. Why? Let’s just say Joe’s lived a pretty interesting life and the stories he tells are almost unbelievable and widely entertaining to read. So much so that he got a publishing deal with Penguin Books. His book, the first to be published by a major publisher, entitled Mentally Incontinent: That Time I Burned Down a Hooters, That Time My Stalker Crashed on My Couch, and Nine Other Stories from My Weird Life was recently released and he was nice enough to invite me out to the Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco for a book-signing event he was having. I had never met Joe in person up until that point, my interactions with him based solely around our the times he guest starred on our podcast, so I was excited to actually meet him in person. What can I say, I love meeting people and Joe seemed like a cool enough guy.
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Rhythm games seem to have the spotlight at the moment. First DJ Hero hit at the end of October, followed last week by Band Hero and, of course, Lego Rock Band. I got a chance to play the game at E3, similarly to The Beatles: Rock Band. However, unlike with Beatles, I questioned the necessity of a Lego version of Rock Band. After all, where as The Beatles: Rock Band was a game centered around The Beatles’ music and the story of their career, Lego Rock Band appeared to be nothing more than a reskinned version of Rock Band with a new soundtrack. I don’t have a problem with the Rock Band series at all; in fact, I’m rather fond of it. But is Lego Rock Band really necessary? Sure, Lego games are interesting and popular, but is a merger between two popular franchises really necessary. The answer is a resounding “meh”. It’s not bad, with new game modes that add a little flavor to the game as a whole. But overall, the game just falls flat thanks to the more family friendly soundtrack. (more…)
The Beatles, "Live" on the Ed Sullivan Show
There’s not much that can go wrong with the Rock Band formula. Thus far, Harmonix has done a great job with the whole “take songs from various rock genres, invite a couple of friends and rock the night away” approach to rhythm games. Still, single band games tend to be somewhat of a mixed bag unless you’re really into those specific bands. Games like Guitar Hero: Metallica were never all that appealing to me. I like Metallica, but not to the point I would buy a whole game based around them. Plus, since Rock Band peripherals don’t work for the Guitar Hero series, I wasn’t about to shell out $200 just to play a set list of Metallica classics. Still, The Beatles: Rock Band was something I was excited about for quite some time. I’m a big fan of the Beatles, and after getting a chance to try the game hands-on at E3, I have to say I was hooked. Unfortunately, even after receiving an advanced copy from Harmonix, a series of unfortunate events made it so that I wouldn’t be able to play upon release. With my Xbox 360 dying on me and schoolwork piling up, I had very little opportunity to play the game. But now that I have played it, I have to say, I was thoroughly satisfied with the experience. The Beatles: Rock Band managed to incorporate that core Rock Band gameplay, while adding a few additions to make it an enjoyable and somewhat different experience. (more…)
An angry picture of me I used for my front page, circa 2003. Yeah, I look like a douche.
In the early days of the 21st Century, after Yahoo! bought out Geocities, I had a great idea (which, given the fact that I was just video game nerd was obviously related to video games). It was my dream to go to E3…somehow. So, I did what any idealistic teenager would do. I would start up my own gaming website and do nothing but talk about nothing but my obsession with video games. One week later, I abandoned the idea. Why? Because I was a teenager. It wouldn’t be until my sophomore year of high school that I made a website. But instead of making my kick ass video game site, I did what any angsty teen would do with their time: attempt to wax philosophical while coming off completely emo with pictures of me in several angry poses..
While I learned the basics of HTML coding and even a bit of Javascript, my website was something I probably could have replicated by signing up for an account on a blog site. Still…my website was mine, completely built from the ground up with HTML code I found on the internet. And even with everything I knew, my site followed a simple standard…black backgrounds with contrasting font that could make your eyes bleed. I was a fan of black (still am, actually), so every design had to be draped in black like it came out from the computer of goth kid with way too much time on his hands. And, if that wasn’t all, I only ever used Copperplate Gothic Bold, with a dash of Comic Sans MS thrown into the mix in an attempt to add a little more personality to the site when I decided to start adding fan pages about the things I liked. After 2005, I gave up on the site, using HTML to edit my myspace page before abandoning that as well. So yeah, I was among the crowd of desperate teens wanting to throw themselves on the internet to feel important. It kinda sucks I gave up on the page, though. After a few years of not updating, I’ve forgotten a good deal of HTML knowledge. Oh well.
RIP Geocities. It was definitely a learning experience.
After Microsoft released the New Xbox Experience last November, Xbox LIVE Gold Members who subscribe to Netflix have been able to enjoy Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” service through their console. While PS3 owners have been wondering for a year when the instant streaming service would come to their console, there hasn’t really been much word about expanding to the PS3. However, yesterday Sony and Netflix broke the news that instant streaming would be available for the PS3 later this year.
Similar to the service available for the Xbox 360, users are required to have an unlimited membership plan from Netflix (which start at $8.99 a month) in order to stream content instantly. Unlike the service offered on the 360, which, just like online multiplayer, requires members to subscribe to a Gold account, the PS3 version of the service is available at no additional cost to Netflix subscribers. In addition, rather than be downloaded onto the console itself, the service is available through a free of charge Blu-ray disc that subscribers can already reserve and should expect to have by year’s end.
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Rock Band and Downloadable Content seem to have been made for each other. Sure, both Rock Band 1 & 2 had some good song choices, but a big appeal of the series is the ability to add onto your song list with whatever songs you want from Harmonix’s ever-growing library of downloadable content for the game. However, there has been something missing from Rock Band from its inception, something that Harmonix and MTV Games have just recently corrected: the addition of Queen DLC for Rock Band and Rock Band 2.
Up until now, the Rock Band series has been devoid of any and all Queen music in its set list. But now, with the new Queen DLC pack, the iconic English rock band has finally made its way into the popular rhythm game. Courtesy of Harmonix, I was given a download code for the new Queen pack, consisting of 10 great songs, including Killer Queen and Another One Bites the Dust. I was disappointed, however, to find that songs like We Are the Champions and We Will Rock You were not included. But then again, those songs are to be included in the up and coming Lego Rock Band, so it makes sense that those songs would be left out. Bohemian Rhapsody would have been nice too, but we can’t have it all, now can we.
The song list is pretty solid and the songs fall into varying levels of difficulty. While there were definitely a few songs that were simple to get through, even on expert, don’t be fooled. There are definitely a few songs that made my fingers cramp up. However, for someone who prefers to play guitar in Rock Band, a few songs, mainly Another One Bites the Dust and Killer Queen, felt a bit lacking in terms of guitar, and I could swear that in playing Somebody To Love, I was at one point playing along to a keyboard as opposed to a guitar. Still, despite these minor flaws, this DLC pack itself is definitely worth it if you’re a Queen fan. If not, well, you won’t really be missing much. Aside from Queen, more DLC is on the way, with Wolfmother and Rob Zombie packs available this coming Tuesday.
Queen Pack 01 Track Listing:
“Another One Bites the Dust”
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love”
“Fat Bottomed Girls”
“I Want It All”
“I Want to Break Free”
“Killer Queen”
“One Vision”
“Somebody to Love”
“Tie Your Mother Down”
“Under Pressure”
We’ve seen the ads and all that stuff about hosting a Windows 7 launch party. Let’s face it. It’s a ridiculous notion to host a launch party for Windows 7, at least in my book. Apparently, the folks at Funny or Die feel the same way, giving us such a ridiculous and hilarious parody.
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