That's right, folks! It seems that this week, we have ourselves something special: we have ourselves a two-fer!.
On XBLA this week, we have Scrap Metal, the latest game from developers Slick (the developers responsible for N+), and the game looks to be like a mixture of top-down racer (think Micro-Machines or Pole Position), and Twisted Metal. The game will be available from the Xbox Live Marketplace from Wednesday 10th of March, and will cost 1200MSP. Check out the trailer for this below:
On the other hand, PSN will see Sega's HD re-release of arcade classic After Burner, with the release of After Burner Climax. This also releases on Wednesday, though there is no word yet on pricing. Anyone interested in some arcadey, aerial dog-fighting action -- in super-shiny HD -- should check the video below:
At this precise moment in time, it's 11pm here in the UK, and my Blur multiplayer beta is 12% through its download. Given that the file is a sizeable 1.44Gb, it's a safe bet to assume that I won't be playing it today. However, you can rest assured, dear readers, that I'll be posting my impressions as soon as I've had a chance to get to grips with the game.
Joystiq via The Tech Game have some new images up of what just might be the first DLC pack for Modern Warfare 2. Sadly, MW2 has shuffled off of this mortal coil and will soon be replaced by Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
But just to show that I'm not made of stone, a faint pang of remorse did stir in my icy heart when I saw that (according to the above sites) multiplayer maps "Crash" and "Overgrown" would be returning from MW1. *sigh* Ah, well. Them's the breaks.
I have to admit to being initially quite sceptical about Heavy Rain, though this had very little to do with the game itself, and more to do with my feelings towards developers Quantic Dreams' previous game, Indigo Prophecy (also known as Fahrenheit).
However, after playing the demo for this, and reading Giangs review, my curiosity was truly picqued. Whilst I'd initially consigned myself to renting this game, or picking it up cheap, my curiosity finally got the better of me today, and I bought it. At this present moment in time, the game is currently in the process of its mandatory installation to the PS3's hard drive, so I figured I would mult-task by writing this at the same time as making the origami swanpyramid head thing. I really hope I enjoy this game, as I think the story seems like something I could really get into.
Well, that's the installation complete, so wish me luck, people.
As the first release in Microsoft's XBLA Block Party, which runs all the way through March, Toy Soldiers is set to release on XBLA this Wednesday. However, given that a lot of people probably haven't heard much about this game, check out the video below to get an idea as to what it's all about; hopefully you'll be as pleasantly surprised as I was:
Confused? Intrigued? Well, the game is essentially a tower defence game, but one that lets you take control of the units you command, to let you snipe, strafe, and bomb your way to victory. Personally, I think this sounds like fun, and is certainly a neat twist for those who feel a little burnt out on tower defence games.
If you want to check it out, the game releases on XBLA this Wednesday, and will retail for 1200 MSP. As of yet, there is still no word as to this weeks PSN releases, but we'll be sure to let you know if anything neat catches our eye.
You are probably going to be reading this tomorrow morning, long after the incident is over, but just in case you haven't heard, strange things are afoot at the Infinity Ward headquarters. Apparently, as I read on G4TV's blog, some beefy security-looking dudes showed up unannounced at the office, and no one knows why. The plot thickens when it is learned that no one has seen or heard from studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West since they had a meeting at Activision this morning. One source even described the relationship between IW and Activision as "tense."
It is now 8pm PST, and this news started to break about 20 minutes ago, which leads me to the most important question: why are you guys still at work at 7:40 at night? Jesus, go home already. Management has to pay for that overtime, you know.
The IW office is in Encino, CA, which is only about 20 minutes away from my house. I briefly contemplated driving over there to see if I could find out any deets, but then I though, "Who am I, Anderson Fucking Cooper? I wish."
All joking aside, I hope everything is cool over there.
Whilst I enjoyed my time with Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, the game is only around ten hours long, and as such, I managed to beat it in around two days. However, I'm now left wondering what I should play next.
I'm really intrigued by Heavy Rain, but I don't know if I'll like it enough to warrant paying full price for it. Right now, I can't decide whether I should just leave it, or give in and buy it in a sweaty, heavy-breathing-impulse-buy-frenzy.
If I don't buy it, I also have a number of options: wait until Friday for Battlefield: Bad company 2 to come out, play Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood, which I've had from my rental service since October (!), and haven't even started yet, or I could finish my second play-through of Bayonetta and Bioshock 2.
When tomorrow arrives, two important things happen in the UK: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories finally releases, and I, for the first time since No More Heroes, finally get a reason to play my Wii.
For anyone who doesn't know already, I'm a huge fan of the Silent Hill games, and replayed through the entire series (including Origins and Homecoming) around six months ago, in preparation for this game. As strange as it may seem though, it was only six months ago that I first played the original Silent Hill, and I'm really curious to see how the two games stack up against one another. I've heard that Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is completely different from the original, so I can't wait to play it to see what they've changed.
As the game has been out in North America for quite some time, have any of our readers had a chance to play it? If so, and you have anything you want to say about the game, then feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below -- just make sure to keep it spoiler-free though!
Oooooh, did you feel that? Or better yet, did you smell it? That, my friends, is the coming of a veritable shit storm, and riding atop it is the latest screenshots for Final Fantasy XIII. As you probably already know, the game is coming out on both the PS3 and the Xbox 360, a fact that makes PS3 fanboys cry and Xbox 360 fanboys raise their heads in exaltation. Well, the PS3 fanboys can rejoice (for now), because these Xbox 360 screenshots recently released by Square Enix are HORRID compared to their PS3 counterparts. Take the photo above. Not bad, right? Right. Until you look at the Xbox 360 version of the same shot:
The Xbox 360 version looks so washed out, and their hair looks really bad. Personally, when a game comes out on both systems I usually buy the Xbox 360 version because I love the achievements system. But if the final products are this despairingly different, I'll be jumping ship for this release, at least.
For some reason I just watched the Halo: Reach dev diary episode 1. Before watching it, my interest level in yet another Halo was just about here *holds hand flat, palm down, to just above belly button*, and after, it has made its way up just a few notches to right about here *holds hand flat, palm down to just below nipples*.
Why the slight raise in interest? Well, the video goes over some pretty cool stuff that is going into Bungie's next big adventure, like a story focused more on the human side of the Spartans (actually, any story at all would have been alright), a highly elevated polygon count resulting in pretty awesome graphics, and a part that showed them recording the orchestral music, which I thought was really cool. There was still some of that classic Halo cheese, but hey, *brings hand back up to just below nipples, furls eyebrows, bites lower lip*, right here.
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Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account!