Bayonetta: Action games return

Bayonetta 'TGS 2008' trailer

This trailer is RAD. The gameplay looks to be amazing, but we really need to take it for a test drive. Beyond that, I'm really happy to see a SEGA logo preclude it. Remember when all the darker style games were on the Genesis? The SNES had bright colors behind the Saturday morning cartoon aura. The Genesis had games like Chakkan, Shinobi, Phantasy Star IV, and MK with blood.

It'd be great to see SEGA return to providing that type of thing (whether publishing or developing).

FFXIII Trailer - The RPG the "Next Gen" needs

I've never actually seen this trailer before, but it's my understanding that this was the original. It's no matter...I'm excited for some RPG gaming for sure. Regardless of FFXII's praise, I just couldn't get into that. This anti-sequel seems to be the remedy for that problem. The last RPG to capture me was Lost Odyssey, even though I got sidetracked with moving and never finished it.

Now if I just would have waited to buy a PS3. LOL

Amazon.com has $52 Killzone 2 Pre-order

No, your eyes are not malfunctioning. I'm passing along a deal on a PS3 game.

Yes, I think the first Killzone was garbage. It had good ideas with bad execution...much of that attributed to the fact that the PS2 wasn't equipped for what they tried to do with this game. I bet it would have been a much better venture on the original Xbox, but oh well.

HOWEVER, I'm willing to give Killzone 2 a chance. Hell, Kotaku was impressed. The reviews seem positive. Then again, I completed disagreed with the metacritic scores of Resistance: Fall of man. But I also wanted to like Killzone, and I couldn't say the same for Resistance.

We shall see!

[via PS3fanboy.com]

Arkham Asylum Trailer - More Batman is good

From the preview in Game Informer a while back, to this new trailer, this game looks and sounds like a good addition to everyone's list. The graphics looks great, and the cut-scenes shown above show that we may just get the Batman game we've always wanted.

Prior to "The Dark Knight" movie, I've never been a huge Batman fan. But after that display, more is certainly better.

SEGA Ultimate Collection: $30 for 40+ games

Holy crap...this is a no-brainer buy. All the Phantasy Stars, Sonics, Shinobis, Golden Axes, Streets of Rages for sixty cents per. See the full list here (with unlockables).

A lingering question though: Will this cannibalize their XBLA versions, and will the achievements differ?

This will also be available for the PS3.

In response to Hirai vs Greenberg

This is a response to the notion that Microsoft and Sony's pissing contest is ridiculous because Nintendo is blasting both in hardware sales:

I don't think we want Sony and Microsoft to spearhead the casual market and try to compete with Nintendo. As gamers who like non-casual games, that would threaten our hobby if the other two companies cloned Nintendo.

Anyway, my PS3 has greater longevity than the 360...in that it sits the longest without being turned on. Kaz has to defend his business' product, and so does Greenberg. However, we're still waiting for Sony to put their money where their mouth is, rather than in the toilet.

Revisiting Riddick in new game

Chronicles of Riddick was a pretty good game on the original Xbox. My problem was...by the time I bought it, I already had a 360, and the downgrade in experience had little allure. In fact, I still want to go back and play it, but the game market is so flooded with good titles it's hard to find time to take a step back.

However, it looks like the new Assault on Dark Athena game will INCLUDE a touched-up version of the original title. This is great news; it'll give me an excuse to finish playing through it AND play a will-probably-be-awesome new game. As a preemptive strike, I'm claiming must-have now.

Xbox 360 with bad DVD Drive key is still useful

I was dutifully pissed when I found out my Xbox 360 RRoD "fixer" (courtesy of ebay) had a bricked DVD drive and the original key was lost forever.

To explain: the previous owner tried to mod the DVD drive firmware and messed up. This hosed the DVD Drive and possibly the one piece of data that would allow me to swap for a different drive. Basically, every 360 motherboard is "married" to it's original DVD drive via special encryption keys. Without a proper key match, the console will no longer play Xbox 360 disc games. Even though I managed to pull the key off the bricked drive, it was not a match, so it's no good.

At least, that's what I thought.

Even though it will not play 360 games, I can still watch DVD movies with it. It still works with Netflix. For games I can download XBLA games to a storage device and play them. Lastly, the pseudo media center functions of streaming music and videos still work. It went straight to the kitchen, ending up being a good investment of about $80 ($50 for broken 360/power supply and $30 for a new DVD drive). I must say it's much better than the PS2 that used to be in there ;).

PS3 triggers, and 360 Netflix

First of all, if you hate the ridiculously slippery PS3 Quadripletuple Shock triggers as much as I do, then visit Amazon and get a set of these. While they are aesthetically clumsy, they fix Sony's design flaw on the stock triggers. They snap right on, and are an instant improvement.

As for Netflix on the 360, the concept is fantastic so far: select a bunch of movies and watch them online with the 360. Discs not needed. Unfortunately, the entirety of their "flix" aren't available for this service. It seems to concentrate on some classics along with semi-recent films within the last few years, but not necessarily this year or yesteryear. But in any case, there's enough stuff on there for me to seriously consider staying on.

My test run is on Spidey 3 right now, and it's performing without hiccups.

BTW: Happy New Year, Girls beating you at Halo

Welcome to 2009. Hopefully it will be a good gaming year; for me 2008 was a bit on the short side for me because of money and time shortages. It seems to me that 2010 will bring much more to look forward to, but being wrong in this case is fine by me. The PS3 should host some fantastic showings by then, although it's debatable on whether anyone will care.

--

Vicious SqueakyNinja paid me a visit last night and we Halo'd until 2 am. Her account has long been silverized and unused, so if you've seen my tag online, it's probably her kicking your ass. We had a many solid rounds of being obnoxious with TheKyleNinja and pushing the term "appropriate" well beyond it's means.

Good times!

Halo 3: Slight Elite advantage?

Around 3:40, this unofficial mythbusters video shows Elites really do have "the Matrix". DemolitionNinja would be happy.

Full set of these videos are here.