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Space Invaders Hits the PS3 Online Store

by on Oct.22, 2008, under PS3

As of October 14, 2008 the 1978 classic Space Invaders is available on the Playstation 3 online store (Japan) for about 600 yen (or $6.99 CAD). Which will likely be the $4.99 sticker price we’ve seen for other classics such as Q*bert or Joust.

It’s unknown when this will be released in the North American market, but rest assured, we will be invaded.

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LBP (Little Big Planet) Delay!

by on Oct.17, 2008, under PS3

The highly anticipated game Little big planet was of course delayed due to (for the ease of understanding), muslim biblical text being used in song. (Apparently using the 2 phrases in song are “offensive” to muslims). While the song artist himself is in fact a “devout muslim”. And has won grammy awards for his music! There has been no offense taken over years of mixing the biblical text with song until this game.

So if one guy can say he’s offended for some bogus reason, the following should bring a halt to the game entirely!

Hi all, just wanted to start off by saying I’ve found Little Big Planet to be QUITE offensive. Not only to myself, but millions of others world wide.

Now this is where I should mention I’m a potato farmer. And as you all know, we tend to use burlap sacks to package our hard work for sale to consumers. We try our hardest to limit the use of burlap sacks for use only on transporting goods like potatoes, coffee beans and other agricultural goods. And during the winter we promote the use of burlap to wrap shrubbery and bushes in order to protect against the cold. But never in my wildest nightmares did I think burlap was going to be used in such an offensive and disgusting manner. Needless to say I’m appalled that our children would be subjected to such miss use and disgrace of burlap.

That’s only where it starts. As I’m sure everyone is aware that on the farm we (farmers) designate one of our children as a “sackboy”. His/Her general duties include sewing the sacks, transporting the sacks, cleaning the sacks and any other sack related jobs. And for you to outright poke fun and portray our sackboys in such a manner is just shocking. Dispite you’re hap hazard goofy portrayal, our sackboys on the farm are actually quite the opposite. I can’t imagine the loss of productivity and mental distress our sackboys and girls will go through. It’s likely to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in losses this year alone.

It’s so hard to believe that something as serious as this could slip through your screening process. Which only strengthens the fact that it was done purposely to destroy the burlap and agricultural business world wide!

I hope that this will be taken seriously, and not thrown aside like I’m just making this stuff up. It’s proven that I exist, my potatoes exist and as sure as rain, burlap exists. I can provide my PFU (potato farmers union) ID if necessary.

While I may suggest you use other materials and a name for your character… I think you will find it unyieldingly difficult to do so without offending other major industries like garbage men and grocers if you were to use something along the lines of “bagboy”. So it may be your only option to can the game entirely.

Please remember burlap for what greatness it once was until this game came along…

I hope you all understand the point I’m trying to get across. Anything can be taken as “offensive” even when its NOT. I thought that if something was offensive you just simply choose not to buy it?

Hell, even the word “sack” can be vulger and offensive. Wow, its hard to believe the ESRB missed that one and didn’t give the game an 18+ rating.

I can’t wait to see all the nasty levels people create in game that show hate towards the muslims and/or sony. What once would have been a happy game launch with everyone smiling is going to turn into a huge hate fest.

Also you have to think what the hell was going thru the minds of people at sony to make such a drastic and stupid decision to pull the game. The launch could have went off with a huge success and a minor patch and no one would be the wiser except the hard core dedicated people… in which case they would still be happy and not speak of it ever again…

But of course they were probably thinking “even bad press is good press”. Which for a game like LBP, bad press is BAD press.

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GTA4: Grand Theft Auto 4 (ps3) Review

by on May.01, 2008, under PS3

Overall Rating 10/10
Online Play 10/10

Initial Thoughts

With it’s scheduled release of April 29th, I went and picked up my pre-ordered collectors edition at midnight. I’ve been waiting for this game for quite some time, so it’s very exciting!

The whole feeling of anticipation is just something you cant explain. The 10 minute drive to the store, and 10 minutes back is the longest ever! Not to mention the hours standing in line felt like days!

Let’s open this sucker up!

Included in the collectors edition are:

  • Special Collectors edition GTA4 Game
  • Safe Deposit Box + Key & Keychain
  • Artwork book
  • Duffel bag
  • Music CD with non-released tracks

First Impressions

After inserting the disc into the PS3 and switching on my LG 42” LCD television, I cranked the volume on the surround sound and sat back in my chair. The installation gave me time to look thru all the extras. The art book was kind of cool and the duffel bag is actually pretty solid. Good for use as an “overnight bag” or to throw some games/accessories in if you’re going to a friends house.

The safety deposit box is of sound construction, not “secure” by any means, but will keep anything safe from prying eyes in your household.

Gameplay & Graphics

I’m a big fan of free roaming and not doing missions after I build up a good chunk of cash and properties. Mostly I just cause a ruckus, pretend I’m a normal pedestrian (Driving by the rules, parallel parking, all that good stuff). Then more often then not I feel like being bad, rob a few people, kill them, steal a car and get a police chase going. This is fun for me. I love it! And the fact that GTA4 game play is based largely on free roaming having an effect on what happens is just great!

I had to adjust the brightness/contrast settings because it was just too dark by default. But the graphics are great! Vast improvement over the cartoonish look of the previous versions. And if you look closely at the paint on cars you can actually see the metal flake in the paint!

Driving

Driving is much different in this game then the previous installments. Every car handles and drivesdifferently, cornering requires you to actually SLOW DOWN! Cars will spin out and crash just like they would in real life if you go too fast around a corner. Once you get use to it you start to appreciate the dynamics.

The cars don’t blow up as easily which is GREAT! I found when the car takes enough damage it just wont start anymore… You’ll be sitting there trying to start it, but no go! Even if you flip over it wont blow. Shooting the gas tank or catching the car on fire of course will result in the car becoming a rolling time bomb. (But you do get a bit of extra time to get out before she blows!)

Flat tires will effect handling of course, and if you drive to hard or too fast on a flat, it will deteriorate and shred off – leaving you to ride on the rim. I haven’t come across any spike strips during cop chases (I actually enjoyed that aspect)… But road blocks, helicopters and SWAT teams are still strong. I have had a 6 star wanted level but was in a helicopter at the time so I was unable to see what the ground forces were like.

Walking / Running

I also found this a bit harder at first, but again once you get the hang of it, its no problem. You’re able to hold X to run, or tap X repeatedly to sprint. Careful not to run out in traffic because you will get smoked!

Shooting / Combat

Shooting is MUCH improved! You can use the cover system (R1) to duck behind cars or hide behind a wall. Shoot blindly at your targets while staying behind cover (not very accurate), or pop up and shoot your enemy.

You can free aim your weapon by holding L2 about half way, or lock on by pressing it all the way in. Once locked on you can use the right analog stick up to go for a head shot, or down to go for a leg wound. When shooting at cops, they take more shots to the chest due to body armor.

Game Features

GTA4 has veered away from the traditional sense of the game in the fact that, well… things are different. Yes you still kill people, steal cars and all that stuff we most certainly love, it’s bee MUCH improved.

  • Stealing Parked Cars - Now instead of just running up to any car on the street which somehow conveniently had its keys in the ignition or visor; you actually BREAK in and hotwire the sucker! While this sucks for those times you’re running from the cops and the only quick getaway car is parked, it ads a huge sense of realism. I love the sound of breaking glass in the morning. Some cars tend to take longer than others to hot wire (This may just be a random thing). But you can press L2 and/or R2 quickly to speed up the process. And yes, pedestrians will be like “omg”.
  • Getting Arrested – usually you would be arrested as soon as the cops got within a few feet, or opened your door if you were JUST stepping on the gas… quite annoying at times because you knew you just needed 0.0001 more milliseconds. Now you have a better opportunity to resist arrest! You put your hands up and before the cop gets around to slapping the cuffs on, you can take off running! Granted depending on the crime committed they may or may not shoot at you.
  • Cell Phone – you’re able to call 911 (police, ambulance, fire) to the location you’re at. How cool is that? Want to start some trouble, get the cops there sooner! Call yourself an ambulance or firetruck! So much fun! Calling an ambulance to replenish your health costs money, but if you’re in trouble with no food around, its well worth it.

Online Play

Being a first in the GTA series, online play will most definitely be AWESOME. I can sit there for hours and free roam wishing I had a 2nd player in there with me…. and now.. i CAN!

About 45 minutes after I played single player, I hopped online to check it out… Most fun I’ve ever had in an online game my entire life! The interactions you can have with other players is hilarious! I couldn’t stop laughing!!! A headset is a MUST, it makes it that much better!

You automatically have voice chat with your teammates, but can call other players with the in game cell phone for a private or conference call.

Just to give you an idea of the antics you can pull on your enemies or team mates. I loaded up a helicopter with a few of my team members, they all thought we had big plans to kill the enemy… little did they know I had an alternate agenda. Whilst they were shooting out of the chopper and enjoying the ride, I went higher in the sky and proceeded to tell them via voice chat they were on their own. At the same time I jumped out of the cockpit! Leaving the chopper to spin wildly out of control! I could hear screams and laughter over the voice chat as there was nothing they could do to save themselves.

Cannot Connect to game provider (Error Message)

The Error “cannot connect to game provider” is due to everyone trying to connect to the game servers. Just keep trying and eventually you’ll get in. The server’s aren’t “crashed”, just hard to find an open connection. Although I have experienced one or 2 online crashes to do with a game just dropping and the PSN network not signing in… but this was short lived.

Common for new releases (though unfortunate). But expect there to be no delay in joining multi player matches in the next week or two.

Conclusion

This game is just awesome. It’s the only game where all my PSN list says “playing GTA4″. This game is well worth the money spent for the enjoyment you’ll receive.

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