The one on Wednesday

Forza 3 up for grabs on the Gadgets and Gaming bit this evening....

The one with the new Xbox 360 Update

I was invited to partake in a Beta for the new Xbox 360 update ahead of its full release in November and it arrived yesterday. In a tiny nutshell, the update allows you to tweet, facebook and have movie parties all over the place!

The twitter and facebook are fine and functional, particularly using a keypad. Not as fast as using a client or the web on a PC / Mac, but for those moments where you can’t be arsed moving to a laptop or desktop its ideal!

All the music games (Guitar Hero etc.) all now have dedicated stores which is great as it saves you time floundering around looking for tracks etc.etc.

Not sure about the Irish getting Last.fm as there was no sign of it on my update.

So all good so far, but nothing that has melted my mind until I took on the Zune Video Marketplace. And then, my mind melted. 1080P Full HD video, STREAMING. Yeah, streaming. No longer do you have to wait for a movie to download, the shit was streaming. And streaming with no buffering, stuttering or stammering. After part of my brain oozed out of my ears, I decided to press fast forward, just for the laugh. And £%^$%^£%^£$ me, it FF at full speed. I’m not sure how the miracle workers at MS get this working, although I’d speculate its about variable bit rates. Either way, I couldn’t care less. I never, ever have rented a movie over Xbox Live, primarily because of download times and hard drive space ( I got the 20GB Old skool box) but with streaming, its something I would certainly, actually definitely do in the future! And it is the future. 5 – 10 years, this is the way we will all look at movies. That said, it all depends on your Broadband connection I would imagine, but the 360 adjusts accordingly. Spectacular win.

The one with Gameness on a Thursday

Time for the weekly gaming bit!

Crackdown 2 is on the way, the first one was outstanding. Here’s the low down on the sequel from the developers via Edge online
"We've got core members from every discipline who worked on [Crackdown 1], the majority of the design team, and, depending on whom you speak to, some of the best coders and most talented artists," said creative director Billy Thompson.
"We still maintain a really strong working relationship with [original developer] Realtime; they're our neighbours in both personal and professional relationships, and we like that," piped in producer Jim Cope. "But leaping to our defence, in a sense, we firmly believe we're the right people to make Crackdown 2."
Elsewhere in the interview the Ruffian pair reveal that the second Crackdown takes place in the same locale, Pacific City, "but further on in the timeline."

Gran Turismo, probably one of the greatest looking games on any system, particularly the PS3 incarnation, well check out the PSP version. I shit you not. Kinda makes me wanna go and buy a PSP again! I'm still finding it hard to believe that these shots are on the PSP. Hope it plays as well as it looks!

Square Enix is being taken to court for "deceptive advertising, unfair practices and fraudulent concealment" in regards, mainly, to fees in MMO title Final Fantasy XI.

The court filing states that Square apparently deceived around 100,000 players of its online game, being less-than-upfront over the terms of monthly fees, penalties for late payments, interest charges and termination of accounts for late payments

MS have released some new gear for your avatars over on Xbox Live. Outfits include surfer shorts, dodgy vests and even hotpants. Not sure if you get some cheek action with the hotpants, but still!

Resident Evil, one of the original survival horror games. Most were enjoyable? How about a Lego version

And finally, here’s Jack Black bigging up Brutal Legend (via Joystiq)

The one with Gameness

Right, decided to add a bit more structure to the blog, so from now on, each Thursday (in theory anyway) will feature some video gaming news and the likes!

Ghostbusters is out tomorrow on PS3. From what I read around the web, the Xbox 360 version is better. So you will have to wait till bloody October for that one!

Reviews have been 7 and 8’s out of ten and by all accounts it looks better than it moves!

Pain (from the Playstation Network) is being released next week on Blu-Ray, all the levels etc.etc.etc. Well worth a nose, great fun, even for wives to be be!

Not sure how the COD fans will feel about forking out more money when it comes to this…Future Call of Duty games could come with an MMO-style subscription service, granting subscribers extra options and early access to map packs.
That's according to a mysterious Activision survey doing the rounds on Destructoid, which mentions a CoD service that would "enhance the multiplayer experience and provide exclusive access to a group of gameplay enhancements."
These "enhancements" would include early access to expansions and betas, exclusive character skins, game modes, enhanced stat tracking and "support for competitive play."

 

Lots of people, myself included are drooling at Heavy Rain on the PS3. Well, as people know, its delayed and according to the developer, it still needs lots of work. We're still at the alpha stage and there's a whole lot of work to be done," said Quantic Dream's David Cage. "There's so much fine-tuning in the game left to do. Everything has to be perfect. If there's one thing wrong in a scene, it's the only thing you'll see. There are many things that don't work right now. We need to have everything in place, from facial animations, to score to work out the final result." Early 2010 by all accounts!
 
Hands up who remembers the amazing choplifter???? Well, earlier this week, inXile Entertainment filed a trademark for the title "Choplifter" in relation to a video game. We can live in hope!!!

This is what NBA Live 10 looks like! First screen compliments of EA

Microsoft bigwig Shane Kim has stated that the release of Project Natal will be "the launch of Xbox 360", and that no new console hardware will be involved."Absolutely. It will be that big," he told Gamasutra. "Now, the good news is that it's not a new hardware architecture; we're not forcing customers to have to go buy a new console because it will work with every existing Xbox 360 out there.

vicbarry is my Xbox Live Gamertag and PSN user name if your playing online

The one with Project Natal

I know Im behind on this, but have'nt had much time on me hands! Plenty of stuff going on at E3 but Microsoft have really set the bar high with this one!

The one with a few bits on a Tuesday evening

McG talking Terminator Salvation


Wolverine - Video game footage - looks decent enough

The one with the mini game review – Wheelman (Xbox 360)

Everyone of us is guilty of having a little secret, hidden pleasure! Be it porn, chilli chocolate and no brainer, action movies. Or all three. None feature heavy on story lines, plots or acting, but give pleasure in huge big dollops! And this is exactly what Wheelman does!

Vin Diesel in his wisdom and gamerness was the first Hollywood actor to set up a game studio, called Tigon studios. So himself and his crew joined forces with Midway and came up with Wheelman. In a nutshell, Vin Diesel is the Wheelman, and undercover cop or operative. Basically all the bad guys think he’s another regular old bad guy. Or something! Sure there's a plot and all, but it doesn't really matter. Not to me anyway!

I was far more interested in stealing cars, bikes and trucks and hurling them around a loose, digital representation of Barcelona. In between driving around a Spanish city which features plenty of jumps and stuff to break, there's plenty of madness, explosions and driving through buildings! Not to mention the ability to air jack cars, which see’s your quite accurate representation of Vin Diesel climbing out of his moving car, jumping onto another car, kicking the driver out and driving off!

The game looks well, some of the textures are a little lo-res and moves along at a fairly frantic pace! There's tonnes of set pieces and explosions to keep the action gamer happy! And don't forget a healthy dose of side missions. Its not as polished as GTA IV (which it will draw comparison from) but you don't really notice complete lack of Mr.Sheen when your side swiping a cop car into the side of a tunnel.

Wheelman its sheer balls to the wall fun! Don't expect an amazing storyline or mind-blowing cut scenes, but strap on the seatbelt! And to return to the porn comparison, like all good porno flicks, you keep coming back for the same great scenes time after time! And Wheelman has plenty of em! This is some of the better no brainer fun you can have at the moment!

7/10

The one with an Xbox in a briefcase

One of the coolest things you'll see, but it does pose the question about how much time one has on their hands and how often they see boobs

The one with Tom Clancys End War

I was never a fan of strategy games. I gave Populous some love back in the day on the Amiga, but other than that Ive kept well away from the command and conquer style stuff. That is, up until now. I got a review copy of Tom Clancy's End War yesterday and to be honest, I wasn't expecting much. Sure, I saw the videos and while it looked good, it still didn't seem for me. Plus it had what seemed like a gimmick attached. Control the game with your voice and your Xbox headset.

So, I fired up the 360 at around 2am this morning and 2 hours later I was damn well impressed. That voice gimmick, is far from a gimmick. Its downright brilliant. And it works very, very well and nothing beats saying "UNIT 1 ATTACK HOSTILE 1" and watching your Unit 1 go off and kick ass. You can control your entire army via your voice. Get them to retreat. Get them to secure a building. Get them to take cover. The only thing you cant get them do is do a little victory dance and run rampage around the place with a couple of strippers.

Theres a tonne of commands. And its all so easy to execute. Right trigger, and your voice. That its! Brilliant. I had never really experienced voice command until now and its such a different way of playing. Graphically and sonically the game is what it is. Fairly detailed but nothing that'll melt your mind. The presentation is superb with a great story line in the solo mode and over xbox live, well. What can be said! Its bloody superb. You and your mates will be hoarse from roaring commands for days. For something a little bit different, and for something that'll change the minds of the non strategy fans (like me) you could do no wrong by checking out Tom Clancys End War. I genuinely love it! 

8.5/10

That said, its probably not too wise to play it in the early hours of the morning. When I did eventually crawl into bed, she who must be obeyed asked me "Who the hell were you talking to?" I'm not entirely sure she believed I was talking to my Xbox 360.

The one with my take on Gears of War 2

WIN COPIES OF THE GAME TONIGHT AS WELL AS OTHER GOW2 GOODIES!!!!!!!

Got hold of GOW2 on Election night and have been trying to put some serious time into it, in between my sinus and lungs exploding. And I cant put the thing down. I don't know how this blog has been updated over the last few days, due to some serious Gearing. 

Gears of War 2 is the sequel to the original Gears of War, obviously enough and if you thought the original was mind blowing, this sequel will melt your mind into dog food. Its that good. The latest edition of the Unreal engine drives the whole Gears 2 universe, which is even bigger and more beautiful that first time round. That's the first thing that hit me. The sheer size of it. The levels are huge and some of the original, big ass bad guys that were an occasional appearance are a regular occurrence this time round. Brumaks wander around like king kong sized chickens with guns. And by the first hour you will have killed at least one of the bastards. 

Like last time round, there is a great story line floating Gears. The Locusts have a new way of sinking cities, which has to be seen to be believed. Dom's wife is also now part of the story line. I don't want to give too much away, but you'll be sucked in from the very start and you'll keep going back to get to the next segment of the story line. Gears has some great voice acting to boot and its full of great lines that'll put a big grin on your face.

"Did you ever see them eat emulsion?"

"I don't care if they eat, shit and die"

Also, another new addition is the executions. Hit a colored button next to a downed enemy and enjoy. Seriously, gore is a big part of the game (you can turn it off if your wimpy) and its never been so enjoyable.

That's just the campaign, which I'm still battling through. As for whats on the multi player over Xbox Live, all the oul favourites are back with some new modes. In particular the Hoarde mode is fantastic. You and some mates battle it out with 50 waves of enemies. Its a phenomenal mode, which brings out the real comradary in ya.

Overall, this is going to be the big one this Xmas and no doubt will sell bucket loads of Xbox 360s.

For me, personally, its one of my games of the year. This will pick up awards left, right and center. If you are going to buy one game this Xmas, this is one helluva a purchase.

"Bigger, Better, More Bad Ass" Damn right!!!!!

10/10

And, don't forget, my GOW2 special kicks off tonight after 10.30pm only on Corks RedFM. Cliff Bleszinski will be in the house as well as some cool freebies!!!!! Don't miss it!!!!!!! 

The one with that Obama is Irish song and more...

To me, the following video is a prime example of whats wrong with the world. These absolute fuckin dopes and their stupid songs. If I was misfortunate enough to be in this establishment, I'd end up in jail. Its got nothing to do with Obama and his great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather being from a bog up the country. Everyone is Irish, and everyone knows that. I'm sure Jesus had some Irish blood in him as well! But, I detest this kinda shit. The sing song shite in pubs drives me bonkers. I have to leave. Maybe its to do with my inability to sing and its a jealousy thing and that's rooted deep, down in my mind. Maybe its a stereotype that's there. These dopes and their "oul songs" who keep going and going and going making up thick, shit verses as they go! 

A few years ago, I was in a well known bar in West Cork and some made yoke fell in the door with his guitar. There was no room, but his drunken arse squeezed into the seats next to me and herself. And off he went. Snuff running out of his nose and whiskey tainted saliva pouring out of his mouth. He started belting out songs. It was like an episode of X-Factor gone very, very wrong. And that's bad as it is!

For the last few nights when I get home from the show Ive been scaring my digestivie system with Dead Space. Its freaky as hell and has one of the best atmospheres in games Ive played in ages. Basically, your like an oul council worker who goes to fix a broke down dump truck. Only thing is all the other fellas have got their arses ate by an infestation and they've turned into big, scary bastards. So you need to fix the ship and survive as your own has gone to the big spaceship heaven in the sky. Its bonkers. Lights off, Amps up. Im glad I dont have a heart condition.

I've also being giving some serious time to Fable II. Im not a huge fan of the RPG genere, but this has me hooked. Its simple to get yer head around and is huge and varied. You can even go off and get your leg over. Rubber up and no problems. Go mounting bareback in Fable II and you'll become a daddy and may contract an STI for your troubles as well. The game is truly stunning. Check it out if you've got a 360. Definitely one of the games of the year.

Also, dont forget this Sunday from 10pm there is no Cork Talks Back. Instead, there will be a 2 hour extended Movie Bit. From 10-11ish its gonna be full of quality songs from the movies. I spent a good few hours after the show last night, piecing this together, so its well worth a listen.

The one with my pants saber unleashed for the Force unleashed

Every now and again theres a few video games that make me want to take off my pants. To some out there, that may be a frightening thought, but don't worry about it. Go back to your mirror!

Star Wars : The Force Unleashed is out this Friday, and while I know that the lack of quality Star Wars games is far and few between, this has really got the pants saber going "Bzzzzzzzzz" and "Scccchhhhhhhh". Sure it'll probably get repetitive, but bouncing stormtroopers of walls and through windows into the vast vacuum of space will keep me well happy into the witching hours.

Speaking of witching hours, Im sitting here with the end of Platoon belting out on one of the movie channels. Anyway, some Star Wars goodness...