Parent’s Just Don’t Understand… Yet?
Hey Ethel! I killed those Nazi zombies with my, uhh... I killed those Nazis!
Our parents are great, for the most part. When we are too small to defend or feed ourselves, they take care of us. As we grow and mature, they guide and nurture us so that we can become fully functional human beings, and not the equivalent of lower primates, sitting in trees flinging our own crap at each other (thank you Red Forman). But one area where most parents don’t quite have the ability to be the all-knowing influence they would like to be: video games.
When I was growing up playing tag and hide-and-seek, my parents totally understood. They would ask how the game went, where I was hiding, what kind of tag rules I played with – they were very involved, because they could relate my experience to their own. However, when I picked up my first Genesis game, they watched Sonic the Hedgehog like he was an alien from outer space (wait, was he?), shook their heads, and left the room. Thus ended my parent’s ability to fully understand me – from that day forward, there would always be that barrier between us – the invisible yet impassable wall made of 1-ups and gold coins. Read more…
Elementary my dear.
After almost a year and then some we finally get another Layton game in our grubby little hands. It’s sort of funny as I mentioned in the preview that Japan is on its 4th title and the series is fairly popular there and here is hoping it catches steam in North America. The title is developed by Level 5 who have been handling this small franchise called DRAGON QUEST. The thing that strikes me about The Professor Layton series is how it can be called a true successor to old-school point and click adventure games. Almost every artistic scenery is littered with interactive madness, whether it’s coins that need to be uncovered, a scene to be analyzed or your traditional brain teaser that needs to be solved. Combine the fact that the game follows a very well told story which runs at a decent 12 hours with over 150 puzzles and you have a solid title that is a must buy for gamers of any age group but especially those nostalgic for the old school adventure games. Read more…
This fall we certainly are getting our fair share of killer deals, just like the CAPCOM TRIPLE PACK!
Out on store shelves now, for your 360 you can pick up Dead rising/Devil May Cry 4/Lost Planet for the amazing low price of $39.99. All three titles have been platinum hits best sellers and sold 3 million copies in North America alone.
Hey if you haven’t played at least one of the three titles, it’s totally worth picking up this compilation.
Where do Toronto Film Fest buffs, WWE RAW fanatics, free concert goers, and Maple Leaf hopefuls converge at 11:59PM on a Monday? Why Future Shop at Yonge and Dundas in down town Toronto for the midnight release of EA Sports’ NHL 10, hosted by Xbox Canada of course!
AndPOP was in tow to witness the launch of what may very well be this year’s best hockey title. In a town that loves their hockey hundreds lined up early, a pick-up street hockey game was going on across the street, and anticipation was high for the clock to strike midnight. Read more…
Incoming message from… Xbox Canada.
Xbox Canada is searching for Canada’s Biggest Halo Fan!
Think you’re the biggest Halo fan in the country? Prove it! Become a fan
of Xbox Canada on Facebook and post your proof on the Xbox Canada wall
for your chance to win an amazing grand prize that includes a trip for
two to Toronto, the ultimate Halo prize pack and VIP access to the
biggest Halo event ever held in Canada. Read more…
Well, this certainly was an interesting week…almost finishing my review on The METROID PRIME TRILOGY, played Arkham Asylum and unlocked tons of achievements and I saw Kanye act like a total douche on TV.
What else is new?? OH how about the MARVEL buyout?? It’s sad eh? But maybe that’s a plus for Marvel, imagine a good CG marvel movie made by Pixar?? Truth be told a lot of us aren’t sure yet since Disney just has this creepy vibe to it. Read more…
Ah, Twitter, where would we be without you.
In the first of today’s Twitter-leaked news stories, Courtney Love spilled the virtual beans last week about her outrage over the new Kurt Cobain Guitar Hero avatar.
“FOR THE RECORD, I DID NOT APPROVE KURTS AVATAR FOR GUYITARHERO5. i think Kurt would despise this game alone let alone this avatar,” she wrote.
Then came the more telling post: “We are going to sue the shit out of Activision we being the Trust the Estate the LLC the various LLCs Cobain Enterprises.”
Activision has since responded in a less-mouthy fashion.
“Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain’s likeness as a fully playable character in Guitar Hero® 5,” according to Pitchfork.
Are you excited for EA Sports NHL 10? If you’re Canadian, probably. The #1 selling console game in Canada has it’s launch parties in Toronto and Vancouver Monday, September 14. The Toronto party will be at the Yonge and Dundas Future Shop with Wendel Clark and Ian White (of Maple Leafs fame) from 9pm to 11:45pm, and in Vancouver’s Granville and Robson Future Shop with Trevor Linden of the Canucks. The Future Shop locations will be open until 1am, so check it out if you’re not too busy… and on a Monday night, what’s your excuse?
Cheers!
I'd hate to see the result of this guy losing rock paper scissors.
You know, I have recently become enamored with the idea of the Top 5 List, as I’m sure you have gathered from the numerous past blogs in that fashion. I think that it’s interesting to see what trends and relationships different games share. However, it’s only a matter of time before these lists devolve into trite ideas like “The Top 5 Headshots in Video Games” or “The Top 5 Witty Remarks in Video Games”.
So I think I’ll take a break from my beloved yet frivolous Top 5′s, and talk a bit more directly on a more serious subject that affects people all over the world, gamers and non-gamers alike: Game Rage. Read more…
The ultimate remastered edition of the Beatles catalog is probably going to be the big-ticket Christmas item this holiday season. Alongside this cornucopia of creamy Liverpool goodness is The Beatles: Rock Band, most likely the other big ticket Christmas item – if the stores have any left after the initial sellout.
And to provide the third stabilizing leg to this triumverate of old-meets-new deliciousness is a brand-new The Beatles: Rock Band Xbox 360 model. Featuring psychedelic designs by the same animators who will blow your minds via the intro cinematic sequence to the new Rock Band cash-cow, this model also has another feature that I’m sure the boys from across the pond would be proud of – every unit sold has all proceeds benefiting Doctors Without Borders.
Finally, as if the above trinity of Beatlemania wasn’t enough, All You Need Is Love is now available as an Xbox Live download, once again with proceeds going to DWB.
To find out more information, head on over to http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/games/splash/b/beatlesrockband/ where you’ll have the chance to join the Fab Four Mystery Tour, an “interactive look at the Beatles and the many twists and turns of their legendary career.” Check it out, Jude, don’t let me down.
Cheers!
Helllloooooo!
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. This week we’re going to take a look at a group of malevolent, disgusting, and just downright horrible creatures who have terrorized mankind for years. What’s that? No, not lawyers. Not even politicians. This week we are ranking the Top 5 Straight-up Meanest Aliens in Video Games. Almost as long as sci-fi and space opera have been around, there has been the alien creatures to terrorize or befriend the valiant heroes and heroines. Well, forget about your friendly little green men, suckers, because we’re not talking about Starman or ET tonight, we’re talking War of the Worlds and Jabba the Hutt. Let’s do this.
‘Ere we go! Read more…
I still remember the summer when Guitar Hero 2 came out. It was a summer not unlike this one. The sun was hot and the air was clear, but I did not go outside. I stayed in and worked my way through career mode on medium, then hard, and then expert. Would you believe, I started impressing girls with my button-shredding abilities?
Video game fans, take my advice. Stay in this season and hone your fake guitar skills with Activision’s Guitar Hero: Smash Hits. Some may scoff at this newest entry, a compilation of the greatest hits from previous guitar hero releases, but the core gameplay remains tight and challenging as ever. The tracks have been taken from Guitar Heroes 1, 2 and 3, with entries from Rock the 80′s and Aerosmith. All of the tracks are now playable by the whole band – guitar, bass, vocals and drums – just as in Guitar Hero World Tour. The selection features lots of reliable favourites, but like the rest of the series there’s a heavy weighting on classic rock and metal. Read more…
Let’s start off this list of announcements with the launch date for Wii Fit plus: hitting store shelves October 4th 2009! The game disc alone will cost only $20! Giving you yet another reason to keep that balance board and your lifestyle totally active.
And starting September 13th The DSi will get pink and white colors added to its selection.
I know what youre saying, where is the Wii love? well come this holiday the Wii mote, nunchuck and Wii motionplus will come in black! could a Black Wii be far off???
Let me explain where this one is going… You see back a month ago or so there were rumors coming from Europe that Eidos had a disclaimer attached to all review copies of BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM. That disclaimer read that if you score the game 90% or had the cover of your magazine devoted to BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM that you can run an early review on this summers MOST ANTICIPATED GAME.
Naturally the game came out and despite its rumored controversy I can tell you its a BATMAN DREAM COME TRUE! SO since everything was proven wrong and the game was stellar I thought Id submit a work that I almost ran but decided not to until there further confirmations. Anyways Its ALL IN GOOD FUN! And expect more BATMAN COMICS Arkham Asylum spoofs in the future. HAHAHAhahahaHAHAHAhehehehehAhAHAHAH
As always click on the image for the full view
Chair Entertainment- a subsidiary of Epic games and Microsoft Corp- had released their smash hit SHADOW COMPLEX and now news has reached us that the title not only garnered critical acclaim but now is the best selling single player Xbox Live title to date. With 200,000 purchases in its first week things are off to a stellar start for this new exciting IP on Xbox Live.
Kudos to you Chair Entertainment!
Go ahead and try out the demo and buy this instant classic!
Wolfenstein, the first, first person shooter I ever played has come back with an all new story, new powers, and yes, zombie Nazis. But do powers, a unique story and zombies really make a game great? I figured since I have history with this title that I would put it upon myself to find out by writing up a full review about Wolfenstein on the Xbox 360, below see what I thought.
Taking place during Nazi Germany during WWII, Wolfenstein focuses on the paranormal studies both the Nazi’s and the allies looked into. Experiments using a Dark Force known only as the Black Sun are extremely close to giving Nazi’s the power needed to rule the world and all that stands in the way of total domination is a spunky young American soldier known lovingly as BJ. A straight up WWII FPS for the first few minutes, players quickly see where this game veers off course into a sci-fi shoot-em-up with everything from space-aged weaponry to zombie Nazis, what more could a gamer ask for?
BJ has a number of weapons at his disposal, from melee attacks using his gun butts and shovels, to occult powers of the veil and a mysterious amulet that lets him use and recharge his powers. These powers are somewhat out of place, but give the title a little more depth to the already shallow story. With the ability to see an alternate world around him (complete with exploding freaky metroid type monsters only you can see), slow down time, create a shield, strengthen bullets, and more you will find yourself constantly utilizing these powers (more than I would have liked), and constantly looking for pools to refill your veil energy. Like Wolverine’s feral sense, Spiderman’s spidey sense, and Batman’s … bat sense? You will find yourself playing through most of the game in veil view, taking away from the graphics and textures… which might not actually be a bad thing.
ENTER THE MANSION
Layton, you’ve done it again.
Professor Layton is one of those unique titles that’s really hard to explain. The game isn’t just a puzzle/brain teaser compilation, it’s not entirely an old school adventure, nor is it a complete role playing game… its all of these combined into one of the most intriguing packages available on the DS and DSi. Developed by the fine folks at Level 5, who are responsible for some serious gems in gaming, the North American sequel should be on store shelves as we speak and it’s a title that’s not to be missed out on. Read more…
That’s right folks, Scene It? is coming out with it’s third foray into the video game world with Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen!
Not only will Scene It? be making it’s way back to the Xbox 360, but this time around it’s making the debut on both the Wii and PS3!
Offering more up to date movie trivia (as well as classic movie trivia of course), Bright Lights! Big Screen! will also feature a new and improved single player mode as well as new, unique mini-games.
Better bone up on your movie knowledge before Scene It? drops this holiday season.
andPOP was given a special opportunity to have a look at EA NHL 10 which comes out very shortly. Jordan and Josh spoke with Patrick Kane and John Tavares about being on the cover, and also had a quick play of the game. What we can say is it’s the best EA NHL game yet!
In a move sure to delight and anger plastic instrument enthusiasts everywhere Kurt Cobain has been included in Guitar Hero 5 alongside living rockers Santana, Matt Bellamy, Shirley Manson and deceased Johnny Cash.
The addition of Kurt Cobain gives us two never before used Nirvana tracks in a Guitar Hero or Rock Band video game, “Lithium (live)” and the holy grail *drum roll* “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.
One has to wonder how much money Courtney Love made off this little foray but in any event I’m excited to take my flannel jacket out of the closet and rock out come September 1st.
