As a speaker of Russian (albeit not a great one), I was excited to find out that PC/Xbox 360/PS3 game Metro 2033 has an option to play the entire game in Russian. It makes sense considering that the game's developer, 4A Games, is located in the Ukraine. Metro 2033 received fair-to-good reviews when it came out last year, and I only got a chance to sit down with the game this afternoon - so there's nothing I can say that hasn't been said already in terms of gameplay other than to confirm that it plays fairly well although the combat is a little wonky and the animation seems a little off.

Instead, I want to tackle the idea of using this game as something different - not as a form of mindless entertainment, but as a language tool for enthusiasts that want to practice their fluency.

The game is already set up for an immersive experience that fits your language level - you can toggle the audio, in-game text, and subtitles in either Russian or English, allowing you to pick and choose how you want to experience the game. Initially I chose Russian for the spoken language but with English subtitles - which is a disaster considering you have to concentrate on listening to Russian while following the text in English while also playing the damn game. I also noticed drastic differences in the Russian and English text. Simply put, the English translation is a watered-down version of the original Russian, which contains full sentences that weren't carried over to English. So in the end I switched to Russian without subtitles but with English text for things like the objectives list and pause menu.

Playing the game in Russian is pretty tough for me, but it's a unique experience to tackle the game as a foreigner. There isn't a lot of repeated dialogue so everything also seems fresh. The wording is poetic at times, especially during the between-chapters monologues. Many of the characters talk over each other, which makes it even harder to piece together what everyone is saying. Although there are plenty of times when I simply don't understand what they want me to do, having the objectives list in English clears everything up nicely; once I get the hang of the game I'll try changing that to Russian as well.



Overall, playing this game in another language is weird - I'm enjoying the game and also feel like I'm accomplishing more than just being entertained. The game is at a bargain-bin pricing level right now, so regardless of your command of the Russian language, you might find something worth your time and money here.

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The Kinect Sports: Season Two demo came out today. I'm a little upset that Rare went ahead and and made a sequel less than a year after its predecessor was released (you know, instead of adding more content - what is this, Left 4 Dead 2 all over again?), but whatever, I decided to give it a whirl.

The original Kinect Sports remains my favorite Kinect game, but it suffered from a wonky menu system and super long load times. Off the bat you can tell that some time and effort was put into the menus and overall feel of the game. Everything is snappier, brighter, and more intuitive. You can select each option with your hands or by voice, and both seemed to work really well.

The demo offers one hole of golf and one game of tennis. To play golf, you stand to your side and step forward or backward to aim your shot. You then just swing, and the speed of your swing determines the power of your shot. Putting is the same, just with a smaller swing. There is a nice addition in that you can kneel down before putting to get a better line on the ball, just like real golfers. I think it's going to be hard to play golf with any sort of pinpoint precision, and rather you'd probably just want to play this section to have some laughs.

Tennis is very similar to the Wii Sports version, minus the controller. You serve as you would in real tennis, and then just rally with the opponent. I was hoping for a little foot action, but as far as I can tell you are supposed to just stand there. In fact, the gameplay is nearly identical to the table tennis game in the first Kinect Sports. Because you don't have any sort of feedback for your shots, it never feels like you're hitting the ball, which is disorienting. All in all, I think I like playing tennis in Wii Sports more.

So I guess while the menus definitely seem much better, it's hard to imagine shelling out a full $50 based on the merits of this demo alone. It's a shame they didn't include the other sports (darts, baseball, skiing, football) because some of them could probably be pretty fun.

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As someone who is usually willing to patiently skip the $60 drama of first-week purchases, I've kept my eye on pre-order bonuses since they are generally something I won't have access to in my late-game-buying scheming. A trend that's intensified lately are exclusive pre-order bonuses - wherein a retailer offers something that you can only get by pre-ordering the game at their store - and the most recent example of Batman: Arkham City leaves me feeling flabbergasted, bamboozled, and slightly hoodwinked.

It's actually so confusing that the Arkham City community manager had to release a guide to keep the frothing fanboys and fangirls (fanpeople?) at bay. Want the sweet Robin skin? You better get yo' shit at Amazon (or buy it later as DLC). But what if you want the Joke DLC Carnival Map, which offers an additional four hours of gameplay? Gamestop, suckah. Not to mention the Robin Animated Series, Batman Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Batman Year One, or Batman 1970s skin, which according to the guide aren't offered in the US - which probably means we have to pay for it later, a la horse armor.

And wait! There's even more crap you have to buy in order to get everything. For example, if you want the special yellow Sinestro Corps PS3-only skin you need to also buy the extended cut version of Green Lantern on Blu-Ray. Because lord knows, we need and extended cut version of that movie in our home libraries.

What irks me about this pre-order debacle is that I feel like either a) the retailers battling it out for our money right in front of our faces, and we're the ones suffering because of it or b) retailers assume that gamers are obsessive collectors and completionists that will waste their money on stupid stuff like yellow costumes. Either way, it's insulting. I can understand the idea of exclusivity - remember how Soul Calibur III forced you to pick your console version based on the exclusive characters (Heihachi (PS2), Link (Gamecube), and Spawn (Xbox) - I still have my Gamecube version, btw)? That was pretty clever. But making us scramble and choose sides regarding where we are going to buy our shit for reasons other than price just seems as ridiculous as Strife's haircut in Soul Calibur III.


exhibit A

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Initially, I was surprised that Fruit Ninja Kinect received such mediocre reviews when it came out on XBLA this past summer, but after a bit of analysis (that's what smart people do, right?) I think I may have figured it out. This game was most likely reviewed by someone who sat at their house (or office) and played the game all by their lonesome (or with a group of coworkers) and complained that Fruit Ninja Kinect isn't worth its $10 price point because it brings little extra to the table compared to the $.99 iPhone version.

And for the most part, they're right - there isn't much new to this console game, aside from a bit more polish and some new multiplayer options. But really, that's where the game shines - the two multiplayer challenges (split screen competitive or merged-screen, 2-person arcade mode) are the perfect thing for a party setting. Especially with casual gamers, which if I'm right, are not the same people that gave this game those ho-hum reviews.



So let me set the record straight: Fruit Ninja Kinect is well worth its $10 price point, so long as you plan on using it when friends visit. I've never had a hankering to stand up, turn on my TV/Xbox, and work on my high score alone - that's something you'd want to do on your iPhone while you're sitting in the doctor's office. Instead, this is a game that you play in front of others, both competitively and cooperatively, for a fair amount of laughs. Also, here's our family's secret: we play the two person Arcade co-op but with one person, which basically means one person flails around trying to chop twice as many fruits as the regular arcade mode, and we all compete for the highest score. It's pretty damn fun, and we got our $10 out of this game several months ago.

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It's no secret that I loved the MetroidVania-esque XBLA game Shadow Complex, to the point that I voted for it as one of the top video games of 2009. Not to mention the fact that IGN recently named it the #1 XBLA game of all time. It's a shame that so many good, hard-working people never played it.

But this isn't some sob story, dear readers! The game, contrary to popular belief, did not die in a tragic warehouse fire along with thousands of Monchichis late last year - it's alive and well, and, according to Major Nelson, will be on sale October 11-17th for 600 MSP ($7.50 USD); half off its regular price.

In other words, jump on it!

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It's been a while since you've heard from me on this wonderful gaming website, mostly because I haven't been doing a whole lot of gaming lately. That all changed today when I downloaded the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection (brilliant use of the letter "K", guys). You see, it became available on both XBLA and PSN this week to the tune of $10. Considering the mounds of quarters I spent on the first game alone, $10 for the arcade versions of Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is a ridiculous steal. I mean, back in the 1990s I paid $50 for the Sega Genesis versions of each of those games, and face it, those ports pretty much sucked compared to the arcade versions.

So how do these games hold up? In a nutshell: I planned on checking out each game for a few minutes, but three hours flew by instead. There's something to be said about having the actual arcade versions of these games at my disposal, as opposed to the watered-down console versions I mastered as a teen. The controls are exactly how they were on the arcades (read: slightly unresponsive, especially the first game) and the end bosses are still a bunch of cheap, cheating assholes. The pause menu has a moves list which includes fatalities etc, but for some reason you can only access the moves list during a match.

In hindsight, I should have bought the game on the PSN to use the superior PS3 d-pad, but I had my eye on the Xbox 360 achievements, which are pretty easy to earn ("do a fatality", "do a babality", etc). It still plays fine on the Xbox controller though. There are options to turn off blood (yeah right!) and a difficulty setting, which as far as I could tell didn't make the game any easier.

So yeah, if you played these games as a young lad/lass, you definitely owe it to yourself to check this shit out. no comments

For anyone who has been desperately waiting for Battlefield:Bad Company 2's Vietnam DLC pack to go on sale before picking it up, then you are truly in luck, friend.

This week, said DLC just so happens to be Xbox Live's Deal Of The Week, and is going for the princely sum of 600MSP. That equates to $7.50 in real money (well, US dollars at least) and is a decent 50% saving.

So, if you've been waiting for this to come down in price, then you should definitely pick this up. You never know: if you do, there's a chance you might even get to watch me repeatedly stab you in the face on account of my mad skills. Loser! no comments

via Joystiq

Like raining gummy worms, some delicious news has descended from on high upon us lowly gamers. One of my favorite early Xbox 360 games, Prey, is getting a sequel in 2012, in the form of the aptly named Prey 2.

Can't wait to jump through more alien vagina chasms! no comments

It's been a while, but we're back with some new user submitted content! This time, friend of the site Joshua Pohl is here to give us the low-down on the recently announced Duke Nukem Forever special collectors edition. If you would also like to submit an article, you can do so by clicking here.

The entire internet community might still be shocked that Duke Nukem Forever has an actual release date for later in 2011, but that hasn't stopped 2K Games from revealing a special collectors of the game.  It is appropriately dubbed the "Balls of Steel Edition", will cost $100, and contains (amongst other things) a moderately sized statue of Duke's head and torso, as well as a 100-page hardback book, which covers all the important information about the development and craziness of Duke Nukem Forever.

Here is a complete list of everything included in the Balls of Steel of edition, as released by Shacknews: 
 - Collectible bust of the greatest ass-kicker of all-time.
 - Numbered, limited edition certificate of authenticity.
 - 100-page hardcover book entitled 'History, Legacy & Legend: Duke Nukem Forever Art from the Vault'.
 - Duke Nukem Forever postcard series.
 - Duke Nukem Forever radioactive emblem sticker.
 - Duke Nukem Forever collectable comic book.
 - Duke Nukem Forever foldable paper craft.
 - Duke Nukem Forever poker chips.
 - Duke Nukem Forever mini-card deck.
 - Duke Nukem Forever radioactive emblem dice.

It appears that 2K is only making 2,000 of these, so if you want one, you'd better pre-order soon!

Image courtesy of Joystiq.com. no comments

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