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Fuel Game Review–Freedom to Ride

Racing games and I generally do not get along.  I find them somewhat dull and repetitive, even after the initial adrenaline shock wears off.   This left me with something of a quandary as I discovered a racing game that was actually pretty entertaining, and it’s a new one out for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC called Fuel.

Fuel assumes a future in which Al Gore is allowed by Federal law to laugh and point at everybody who can’t produce a receipt for a copy of An Inconvenient Truth.  Seriously, though–it’s an “alternate present” in which the weather has only very recently gone completely insane, turning large areas of the United States into “no-go” zones, or areas where no human being can safely live.  Thus, humans pack themselves into huge megacities, a la Judge Dredd, except these human hives are apparently warm and comforting places powered by wind and solar and biodiesel, and thus everyone lives in Al Gore’s fantasyland.

There are, however, a few mavericks who realize that, the sudden cessation of gasoline usage has left a whole LOT of spare capacity just sort of lying around, and thus, this gives them the opportunity to take it for their own use.  Hey, why not?  Not like anyone ELSE is using the stuff anyway!  So they appropriate large quantities of fuel and use it to stage quasi-legal offroad joyride races.

To that end, you’re dropped into a scale area of roughly five thousand square miles and set to race.  You’ll be able to select various races against other competitors, as well as having an opportunity to engage in “free riding” but more on that in a minute.  First, we have to deal with the races themselves.  In this way, Fuel is a lot like literally every other racing game on the market.  You drive around trying desperately to pass other people and reach the finish line.  In this way, Fuel is just as good as any other.  The graphics are solid enough, the controls are a little twitchy and take a little getting used to but still do fairly well, and the background music is appropriately rock.

Fuel would be a game much like any other if it weren’t for one critical difference–the free ride mode.  Free ride does just what it sounds like it does; free ride allows you to tear around the map in literally any direction you please, pulling tire-squealing turns on roads, donuts on the beach, whatever you like,  There’s even some structure here as your free ride mode allows you to drive to places where challenges are being held.  Completing these challenges nets you extra fuel, which in turn allows you to buy other vehicles.  Plus, you’ll be able to obtain new parts for your livery, find fantastic views at so-called vista points, and just generally run riot all over the map.

Fuel is, therefore, a game of surprising depth and substance, as well as plenty of fun.  For those of you who already like racing games, you may well have found the ultimate in racers right there.  But for those of you who haven’t been very fond of the racing game subgenre, then you may well want to give Fuel a try.  This is the game that just might change your mind about racers.

Help Wanted Game Review–The World Will Be Saved By Cheap Child Labor

The Wii, it becomes more and more clear to me, is a thoroughly Japanese system.  Where the PS3 and the Xbox 360 might play games that have big involved storylines or lots of explosions and sociopathic destruction in general, much like American cinema in general, the Wii has the games that are the most out of left field.  I say this having watched several dozen Japanese movies and, in many cases, being positively baffled by what I watch.  Don’t believe me?  Go get a copy of Crazy Lips some time and see if that end sequence makes your eyes pop too.  But I digress.  Once again, I’ve found a Wii game that steadfastly refuses all known conventions in favor it its own sheer bizarrity.  That game, specifically, is Help Wanted.

In Help Wanted, you play a young man, or a young lady, whichever, who has a serious problem.  Their grandfather has discovered that an enormous meteor is heading straight for Earth and will destroy all life as we know it unless it can, somehow, be stopped.  But rather than call the police or the government or something, the old codger instead looks to his grandkids to—get this—take a series of odd jobs so that they can save enough money to buy various things from a series of home shopping networks that they can use to attack the meteor.

No, seriously.

That’s the entire plot of Help Wanted—the world can only be saved by cheap child labor.  Not that these kids’ labor is exactly cheap; many of the jobs you take on can net you as much as a hundred bucks a day or more.  And while you’re earning that money, you can spend it with a series of home shopping channels for new uniforms (allowing you to unlock new jobs), trophies of your previous jobs (which increase the amount of “shopping points” you get), support items (which make your jobs easier) and stuff to affect the meteor, either delaying its arrival or causing damage to it which will eventually make it break up and no longer pose a threat to Earth.

You’ll rapidly find, as you play Help Wanted, that there are some jobs you enjoy more than others, and some jobs you’re better at than others, and some jobs you just plain old can’t stand, just like in real life.  I, for example, found I was a positively crackerjack fisherman and action hero.  You may well discover a gift for babysitting and teaching, two things that some say aren’t that far removed.  But the key thing here is, there’s a lot to do and a lot of different THINGS to do.  Nothing really has a chance to get old or stale because you can switch to something completely different almost at will.

Sure, the graphics are a little low-end, as is the standard with the Wii, where its games are ported to the Playstation TWO rather than the three.  Sure, the characters couldn’t be much more chibi and cutesy.  But there’s a lot of humor here, and some of the cut scenes are a riot.  Consider the dog that runs away because he’s tired of playing the villain in the younger siblings’ games.  Upon his return, he’s given a special treat—a makeover and upgrade to hero.  This is not where the strangeness ends, but rather, is merely the beginning.

There’s a lot to like about this game—its constant variety and a soupcon of comedy besides—but I’ll caution you that it really is just another collection of mini games.  But this seems to be working out fairly well for the Wii.  And you should be fairly entertained by the whole thing too.

Damnation Game Review–It’s Not Just A Clever Title

I hate Damnation.

This isn’t just in general terms—although the concept applies there too.  I hate the thought of anyone being sent to an eternity of fire and torment.  I also hate the game of the same name, now available for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.  And why do I bear such a beautiful hatred for this lump of interactive dung?  Read on and see why!

First, the plot—back around the 1860s, when the American Civil War was in full swing, a corporation was founded to take advantage of the situation and hopefully make a few bucks on the side.  The Prescott company, by name, began supplying arms to what seemed like both sides, fueling a massive expansion in technology.  Taking the resulting cash, and along with a couple of choice developments not released to the military, the Prescott outfit stages its own putsch against the Union AND the Confederacy bother, spreading out as the forces of New America, with Prescott—Lord Prescott—as its head.  Now, a resistance, lead by a professor that developed some of Prescott’s most valuable tech and a former Army Captain, has risen up to take back America from New America.

How massive a technological expansion, you may be wondering?  One simple word: steampunk.  Yes, Damnation is a game about steampunk, with clockwork automaton soldiers called Automen, turbine-powered motorbikes, and massive dirigible airships with outboard impeller drives.  Steam powered everything, folks, and some of it actually more advanced than what we have today—that’s the nature of steampunk.

And that’s why I hate this game.

See, Damnation may well be the second steampunk game ever, the first being a much more limited sort of steampunk called Darkwatch.  Damnation represents an amazing story, an alternate history of shocking depth.  Imagine an industrialist today—a Bill Gates, for example.  Maybe a Rupert Murdoch or a Ted Turner or even a Steve Jobs who just one day decided, hey, the government’s populated by a collection of screw-ups, halfwits, dullards and greedheads.  Maybe I should make an army and show them how to do the job right!  That’s exactly what’s going on here.

And when you start adding in fully-realized combat androids (the Automen) in the 1860s, you’ve got a lot of possibilities.  No matter who actually wins that particular conflict the entire world would be irrevocably altered.  From a literary standpoint, Damnation is a triumph.  The hate, meanwhile, comes in thanks to the miserable wreck of a game to which they’ve attached that literary triumph of a plot.  Damnation is a hellish array of horrible graphics, lousy gameplay, cheesy sound, terrible play mechanics, and a complete waste of a deep and amazing storyline.

It’s a third person shooter, that’s the worst part of it.  A third person shooter, with guns that are woefully underpowered for the job, packed with meaningless run and jump “action” segments that add nothing but unnecessary complications.  A third person shooter that looks like hell itself and sounds like the weeping of the damned.

Damnation is exactly what it says on the box, sadly for us all.  Playing this game feels like a jaunt through eternal torment.  And worst of it all, a science-fiction heaven of a storyline hangs tantalizingly over us all, forcing us to play on…or be damned.

I hate this game.

Bionic Commando Game Review–Taking Fun And Completely Destroying It

At the risk of dating myself horribly, I remember when Bionic Commando, now available for PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360,  was an arcade game.  Like in actual arcades.  In case you haven’t seen one lately, arcades were places where people would go to play video games.  Sure, they had video game systems at home–most of them did, anyway–but arcades were the place to go to play the newest, the latest, and the best.  They even had specialized interfaces–racing games would offer you a molded bucket seat with a steering wheel in front, and so on.  But enough of my geriatric doddering–the takeaway here is that I remember Bionic Commando when it didn’t look like a cookie-cutter of EVERY OTHER GAME ON THE MARKET.

This is a direct sequel to the original Bionic Commando, as well as to Bionic Commando: Rearmed, so of course some advancements are to be expected.  The plotline even manages to dovetail successfully with the original: ten years after the original, the “bionic commandos”, of which there were apparently more than one, are facing a sizable public backlash.  Hunted like dogs and in most cases killed, few people remember the legendary Super Joe who once saved the world. But recently, pro-bionic terrorists set off a “weapon of mass destruction” in the middle of Ascension City and proceeded to occupy the rest.  Now, it’s up to Nathan Spencer, former bionic commando, to swing in and retake the city.

Seriously—when was this giant rush started to make almost every game a shooter in which your perspective was either perched over a gun barrel or staring at some guy’s—or on rare occasions some girl’s—pixelated ass?  That may well be the biggest problem with Bionic Commando: sheer mind-numbing unoriginality.  Sure, the plotline’s great but the gameplay is so cookie-cutter as to be downright nightmarish.

The graphics and sound are just fine—if you like technical superiority in your games, then you won’t be disappointed here.  In this case, sadly, it’s just pretty wrapping over a lousy package.

Though in the end, it may be my own memories that are to blame here.  I didn’t have much fun with this game because it wasn’t the Bionic Commando I knew and loved.  Instead I got some pretty third-person shooter with some good action but some really buggy portions too.  I remember when the Bionic Arm would clamp onto nearly anything and let me swing.  I certainly DON’T, however, remember the Bionic Arm being useful in only a handful of situations, and the rest of the time, the arm simply refusing to attach.  It’s like the Delorean of bionic implants—sure, it LOOKS awesome but it really doesn’t perform all that well.  What point is there in only being able to attach onto a limited handful of surfaces?  Bionic Commando, with only a few exceptions, is basically almost two games—a shooter, and a timed button press round of swinging.

And even the timed button presses of swinging don’t always ensure success—more than once my swing indicator told me “Great Swing!”, but what that lying bastard failed to tell me was that it wasn’t good ENOUGH, as I fell into the abyss well short of where I’d intended to land.

So yes, I’m very disappointed with this second-rate retread purporting to be a sequel of a game I enjoyed so very much way back when.  Maybe my memories make me biased, but one thing’s clear, this is an unworthy successor.

Viking: Battle For Asgard Game Review–Kratos Goes To Norway

Vikings make great characters for video games.  Their history is one of huge quantities of fighting and destruction, and I say this being of Danish descent myself.  Okay, sure, the Danes didn’t have quite the fighting past of, say, the Norwegians or the Swedes, but we still got our blades wet from time to time.  Anyway, that’s probably part of the impetus behind Sega’s recent release of Viking: Battle for Asgard, now available for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

In this one, you’ll play a local boy named Skarin, who’s about to get a serious promotion from random sword-toting schmuck to champion of Freya herself.  This is actually much like the relationship between Kratos and Athena.  Except, of course, Skarin wasn’t a homicidal psychopath like Kratos.  Anyway, Skarin is now part of the big war between the gods, fighting on behalf of Freya to take out some of the footholds that Hel, goddess of the underworld, has on Earth.  Just in case you wonder, Earth is called “Midgard” here.  For every bit of Midgard that Skarin takes back from Hel, Freya uses her weird goddess powers to make it green and vibrant again, like nothing ever happened.

There are an uncomfortably large number of comparisons available between Viking: Battle for Asgard and God of War—both feature a human elevated to godly champion status, both will feature occasional battles with large monsters that require a series of timed button presses in order to beat, both will have you find small red orbs to recharge your powers and whatnot—the more I play Viking: Battle for Asgard the more I wonder if it really ISN’T just God of War in a Norse mythology skin and with a lower development budget and a whole lot less promotion.

This isn’t to say, of course, that Viking: Battle for Asgard is all that bad a game.  In a lot of ways, it’s actually rather fun, and it does distract from the endless flood of first person shooters out there.  Getting anything other than one of those is actually a cause for some minor celebration these days.  Think of it as God of War with less bloodshed and more fetch questing and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what’s going on.  Admittedly, it’s still plenty fun to wander around a map and repeatedly jam a blade in things–you’ll get to do likewise with an axe and a whole host of special moves which, for some reason, must be taught to you by ghosts who will require payment in gold first, but there’s room to shake things up here and that’s always a good thing.  Plus, you’ll get to imbue your blade with various elemental powers as part of your agreement with Freya, thus introducing a small note of strategy into things.  Do you freeze the monsters and try to thin out the crowd?  Or just set everything on fire?  Your call!

These are strange days in gaming, when just by virtue of not being a first-person shooter you get a little extra bonus to your originality score.  Granted, this is only one step beyond that—a THIRD person slasher / action game—but still, it’s a step, and a step is better than nothing.

Despite this, you should still be able to get some fun out of this one, especially if you were really into the God of War series and are sort of jonesing for a little of that old god-driven bloodsport.  There’s enough action and adventure to go around, and this should also ensure that you get some fun out of the whole affair.  In the end, that’s better than nothing, if not by a whole lot.

EA Confirms Release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Video Game

One of the most anticipated and touted films this year would have to be that of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Along with that comes the notion that a new video game is not far behind, something that EA and Warner Bros. have officially confirmed.

Electronic Arts Inc. and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today confirmed that the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game will be in stores across the world from June 30, 2009, just ahead of the Warner Bros. Pictures’ film based on J.K. Rowling’s sixth book in the Harry Potter series.

In the game of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, players will return to Hogwarts to help Harry survive a fraught sixth year. They will also have a chance to engage in exciting wizard duels, mix and brew magical ingredients in Potions class and take to the air to lead the Gryffindor Quidditch team to victory. Players may even get sidetracked by Ron’s romantic entanglements as they journey towards a dramatic climax and discover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince.

Developed by EA Bright Light in Guildford, England – the team behind the worldwide success of the Harry Potter library of games including the most recent game released in the summer of 2007, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is scheduled for release in North America on June 30, 2009 for the Wii, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, Nintendo DS, Windows PC, Macintosh and mobile devices.

(Source) Press

Soul Calibur IV Game Review–Long Or Short Term, Still A Value

Fighting games seem to be thinning out of late, buried under a slew of first person shooters and sports games, but one particular gem has managed to emerge from the fray to continue a following that goes back decades, back to a simpler time when there were arcades in malls and most people got their head-to-head action from a room full of bleeping machines.  Today we’re talking Soul Calibur IV, part of the long running series.

Featuring all your favorite fighters, and a panoply of new ones (including for reasons that still escape me Garen Malek, Darth Vader and Yoda depending on what version of the game you buy and whether or not you go in for the downloadable content), you’ll plunge headlong through the stories of all the various fighters, which is why you’re not getting a plot synopsis of the game this time around.  It would just, plain and simply, take too long.  Each character has his or her own individual story, and occasionally, it even overlaps with other characters’ stories to make this strange sort of massive latticework of plot over the whole game.  I’m actually very impressed that this ridiculous brawler game is getting THIS kind of plot.

And your involvement with that plot won’t even feel all that minimalist.  You’ll be fighting all the other characters, sometimes one on one, other times two on two, and sometimes even four against one as you advance through the stages to find out what your character’s particular connection to the legendary cursed sword is this time around.

I’m actually very surprised by this—normally fighter games, for me, have been pointless button mashers where you try to memorize lists of moves for use against opponents of varying and in some cases downright ridiculous skill levels, but this time I got access to a whole array of moves that required little more than a controller direction and a button press, plus a whole bunch more if I wanted them.  I could use Yoda’s force powers to fling myself headlong around the screen, or if I wanted to, I could just use his surprising agility to make short hops and bash my opponent into oblivion with my light saber.  There was a LOT of variety here, and frankly, I was glad for the opportunity to just sit down with the game and let the smack down go on.  I even got little nuggets of plot regularly as I beat an opponent or series thereof, just enough in just close enough increments to make me want to keep moving.  I got through Yoda, Voldo and Ivy’s plotlines in maybe a half-hour’s play time, but man, I wanted to catch everybody else’s plots too.

This game might be a bit big for just one rental—and if you’re a party game sort you may want to buy a copy just to keep it on hand—but even just a short time with it won’t leave you disappointed or missing a whole lot of the plot.  This is a game with lots of surprises that looks beautiful and plays even better.  I don’t recommend fighting games very often—maybe because I don’t get many of them TO recommend in the first place—but I can’t see a way you won’t have fun with Soul Calibur IV.

Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller for PS3 Released

With all the hype about Guitar Hero and Rock Band, it was just a matter of time before another controller in the form of a musical instrument (in this case another guitar) would come out. And Logitech will not allow itself to be outdone as it unveiled its Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller for PLAYSTATION 3 and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment systems.

Following the introduction of the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller, Premiere Edition (previously available only in select markets), the new black guitar controller is expected to be available worldwide later this month. The Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller is licensed by Activision Publishing, Inc. for the award-winning Guitar Hero franchise.

“Logitech’s new guitar controller delivers the same unparalleled Guitar Hero experience offered by our previous premiere edition to an even broader group of gamers and at a great value,” said Ruben Mookerjee, Logitech’s director of product marketing for gaming. “Everything about the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller is premium – from the authentic wood material and flawless black finish, to the noise-dampening design of the strum bar and buttons, to the authentic accents provided by the metal frets.”

The Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller for PLAYSTATION 3 and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment systems is expected to be available this month in the U.S. for a retail price of $199.99 (U.S.) and will be available in Europe in June.

(Source) Press

Sony Busting Exclusive In Europe, PAL Region

Tie-in games and licensed IP games are usually published for as many systems as possible, going for a quick round of sales in as many markets as possible. Ghostbusters: The Video Game is no exception with versions coming to the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS and PC.

Sony has cornered a small part of the market for this highly anticipated game however as non-Sony platform versions of the game will only be launching in North American markets. For Europe and PAL territories it’s going to be a Playstation exclusive title, with the PS3 and PS2 versions launching on June 19th along with the re-release of the film on Blu-ray. The PSP title will be available for those territories in Autumn of this year.

Microsoft Lowering Xbox 360 Price in Japan

To help boost their market share, Microsoft Corporation will reportedly lower the price for its famed game console Xbox 360, hoping that the move can place them in better footing with Nintendo Co. Microsoft, locked in a three-way game console battle with Nintendo’s popular Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3, has been struggling to stir up demand for its Xbox 360 in Japan.

Microsoft will lower the price of the Xbox 360 Arcade model by 8,000 yen ($73.92) to 19,800 yen. The Arcade does not come equipped with a hard drive and is the least expensive of the three Xbox 360 models, the Nikkei said.

The new price will make the machine cheaper than Nintendo’s Wii, which sells for about 25,000 yen, and the PlayStation 3, which sells for 39,800 yen.

(Source) Canada.com

NVIDIA PhysX Highlights Latest Capcom Game

To ensure that the graphics requirements are met and to get the most out of the game, Capcom Entertainment are reaching for the skies in the way they have adopted NVIDIA PhysX and APEX technologies to deliver stunning in-game physics effects.

In fact, when it ships in the fall of 2009, Dark Void will have the distinction of being the first game to use dynamic, accurate smoke effects and smoke trails for the game’s innovative jetpack, UFOs, and spaceships, all of which will be hardware-accelerated by GeForce GPUs when played on compatible desktop PCs.

Developed by Airtight Games and Capcom, Dark Void incorporates a unique vertical combat system that allows players to dangle from thousand foot drops as they take cover and drop enemies from above and below, bringing a whole new sense of vulnerability and thrill to gamers. The game’s jetpack allows players to fly with reckless abandon while performing hair-raising stunts, taking the 3D action to a whole new level.

Airtight Games is utilizing both NVIDIA PhysX and APEX technologies to deliver an inspired, interactive experience, complete with a GPU-accelerated particle system that is used extensively for weapons and debris effects.

Dark Void will be released in the fall of 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the PC, which will feature numerous GPU-accelerated PhysX effects for a truly immersive game experience.

(Source) Press

Quantum of Solace Game Review–A High Caliber First Person Shooter

So when I saw that someone had converted the latest James Bond shooterific epic into a game, Quantum of Solace, now available for Playstations 2 and 3, the Wii, PC, DS and the Xbox 360, I sighed the sigh of a man who’d been here many, MANY times before.  I knew without so much as looking at the back of the box that it was going to be a first person shooter and heavily resemble the movie.  This was the case for virtually every James Bond title since Goldeneye’s incredible success, and since then, everyone’s been pretty much imitating Goldeneye.

This time around, there will be some differentiation as Quantum of Solace incorporates events from TWO different Bond installments–Casino Royale and its namesake Quantum of Solace, with a few events unique to the game–Bond is out to recover Mr. White, and fights his way through a small army.  Getting Mr. White back to Siena, Bond discovers that Quantum, an organization Mr. White is part of, has agents that have managed to infiltrate MI6.  From here, Bond proceeds onward through a whirlwind, worldwide adventure, gaining his vaunted Double O status, and ultimately attempting to take down Quantum.

And indeed, what I believed would be the case before I slapped the game in my system was to be—it was a first person shooter that mirrored the events of the movies fairly closely, albeit with some noticeable differences, and I thought that it was going to be yet another in a long string of games that I had already played before.  The unusual thing about the whole mess was that I actually had some fun with this one.  Maybe it was the smoothness of the controls, or the way I got a variety of weapons right out of the gate.  I don’t know what it was, but I both had fun and did NOT get seasick, relative rarities as far as first person shooters go.

And that’s the problem, isn’t it?  It’s a first person shooter game.  If you’re not a huge James Bond fan or really into first person shooters then there’s only so much fun you can have here.  Indeed, I started getting bored with the whole thing after I shot up Mr. White’s pocket army at his house.

There is some further help on this one—there are several multiplayer modes to help improve playability and long-term replay value.  A first person shooter DOES make a good party game with lots of action, so there’s some value here, unless you’re chronically playing alone.

Let’s be clear—Quantum of Solace may be one of the best first person shooters I’ve ever played, but still, it’s only the best first person shooter I’ve ever played.  It’s like finding that particular brand of rat poison that makes you throw up the least when you mix it in a milkshake.  Or maybe the particular brand of anvil that hurts the least when you drop it on your foot.  I’ve only seen a handful of really entertaining first person shooters in my time, and admittedly, Quantum of Solace is one of them.  It’s a good rental, but sadly, not much else than that.

NCAA Football 10 Cover Athletes Bared

10 popular football players lead the pack of marquee names included in Electronic Arts’ exclusive covers of NCAA Football 10. Michael Crabtree, Brian Johnson, Brian Orakpo and Mark Sanchez will be featured on platform exclusive covers of EA SPORTS NCAA Football 10, available in stores July 14th. Each cover athlete led his team on a memorable run toward the BCS National Championship, helping to shape the competitive landscape of college football in 2008.

• Michael Crabtree, formerly of Texas Tech University, graces the NCAA Football 10 Xbox 360 cover. A top 2009 NFL Draft prospect and two-time recipient of the Biletnikoff and Paul Warfield Awards, Crabtree is a highly recognized wide receiver who led Texas Tech in a close race for the BCS National Championship up until the final weeks of the 2008 season. Texas Tech’s victory over Texas in Lubbock is considered one of the defining moments of 2008.
• The PLAYSTATION 3 cover features University of Utah’s former quarterback, Brian Johnson. In 2008, under Johnson’s leadership, the Utah Utes became the only undefeated NCAA Division I team, boasting a 12-0 record heading into the 2009 Sugar Bowl. In that game, #7 Utah upset #4 Alabama to finish the season with a perfect 13-0 record. Johnson was named the Most Outstanding Player in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.
• The PSP (PlayStation Portable) version of NCAA Football 10 will showcase University of Southern California’s former quarterback, Mark Sanchez. In his only season as USC’s starting quarterback, Sanchez led the Trojans to a near perfect 12-1 season, narrowly missing the opportunity to compete for the 2008 BCS National Championship title. Sanchez was named the Most Valuable Offensive Player in the 2009 Rose Bowl.
• University of Texas’ former defensive end, Brian Orakpo, is featured on the PlayStation 2 cover. In 2008, Orakpo was unanimously selected as a first-team All-American and named the Associated Press Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. In his final season with the Longhorns, Orakpo won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Ted Hendricks Award and the Lombardi Award. Under Orakpo’s leadership, the Longhorns were one of the most dominating teams in the college football last year, defeating numerous top 25 teams including eventual Big 12 Champion and BCS National Champion contender Oklahoma in a memorable Cotton Bowl confrontation.

Developed in Orlando, Florida by EA Tiburon, and licensed by The Collegiate Licensing Company, NCAA Football 10 will be available on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, the PlayStation 2 and PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment systems and the PSP (PlayStation Portable).

(Source) Press

Fracture Game Review–And The Stupid Idea Trophy Goes To….

And so, the flood of first person shooter video games that attempt to differentiate themselves in the dumbest possible fashion continues with recent release Fracture, now available for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. First, the plot rundown:

In the fairly distant future of 2161, turns out Al Gore was right and a lot sooner than anyone expected—global warming has taken hold and flooded out a lot of the planet, including major chunks of the Midwest for some reason and the coasts.  In order to prevent the total destruction of the coastal states, new technologies emerge that can reshape the landscape with the press of a button, forming valleys where there were cliffs and cliffs where there were valleys, allowing threatened areas to easily build bulwarks of land against the oncoming floodwaters.

The United States has been split in two at about the Mississippi River, with the United States operating out of Washington D.C. and the new offshoot, the Republic of Pacifica, functioning out of its new capitol of San Francisco, which probably should’ve been flooded right along with most of California if the Pacific goes up as much as expected.  Anyway, Pacifica’s embraced genetic modification as a way of life—those crazy Californians!—and they’re now at odds with what’s left of the United States, who thinks that genetic modification on a grand scale is so immoral that they’ve declared it illegal, choosing instead to focus on the technological prowess of man.  And thus, the two republics find themselves at war in the future.

When I said that it was going to try and differentiate itself using some pretty weak methods, I meant it.  First, it’s not a hundred percent accurate to call Fracture a first person shooter, because you are not merely behind the gun—you are behind the entire CHARACTER.  As far as I’m concerned this is a toe-MAY-toe / toe-MAH-toe sort of difference, but that’s just me, and really does little overall to separate this from the slew of first person shooters already out on the market.

Second, there’s been a lot of fuss about the “entrencher” gun, quite possibly the single unique feature about this game.  With it, you can raise and lower portions of ground, probably based on the same technology that I described in the plot synopsis above.  It’s nice to be able to make cover wherever you go, but would I play an entire game because it exists?  No, not a chance.  It’s a nifty feature, a sweet addition to the list of bells and whistles, but frankly, I wouldn’t ever play this game again.

Why?  Because it’s almost EXACTLY the same game as Too Human and Gears of War and Gears of War 2 and all those other games that we’ve been playing over and over and over again with virtually no distinguishing features except those in character and story and bells and whistles.

And while I’m at it, whose brain-damaged idea was it to name the game’s lead character “Jet Brody”?  I mean, come on—did you have a CONTEST and bring in some fourth graders, get them loaded on Pixy Stix and Red Bull and tell them to come up with the coolest action hero name EVER?  Did you pass on “Max Power” just because The Simpsons already did it?   Even Matt Hazard made a little more sense and that was a DELIBERATE parody.  Please stop insulting my intelligence by coming up with this crap.  Seriously.

Basically, there’s no real reason to play this game unless you’re absolutely desperate to start reshaping landscapes in video games to suit your own desires because you’ve already played this game about a dozen times over.  Fracture is yet another in a long string of miserable retreads that aren’t even worth a rental unless you can’t get enough first person shooter action.

Dante’s Inferno Invading the PSP

Don’t look now but one game is going to make PSP owner’s lives a living hell! The new game is Dante’s Inferno. Based on part one of Dante Alighieri’s classic, “The Divine Comedy,” EA’s Dante’s Inferno will also take players on an epic adventure through Dante’s famously mapped nine circles of hell.

Dante’s Inferno will be available simultaneously for the PSP, the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system next year.Dante’s Inferno for the PSP is being developed by EA’s award-winning EA Redwood Shores studio and Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M), based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Alighieri’s “Dante’s Inferno” is widely credited for being the work that has defined the western world’s contemporary conception of hell and purgatory. Just like the poem, players of EA’s 3rd person action adventure game will descend through all nine circles of hell: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery, playing as Dante as they battle through a gauntlet of unimaginable evils, fighting to recapture the soul of his beloved Beatrice.

Dante’s Inferno has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI.

(Source) Press