Author - Jerry Paxton

Review of Ace Combat 6

1up has posted their review of Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation and given it a not-so-great 6.5 out of 10! And here I was hoping it would be an amazing game, well worth the expensive optional controller to go with it!

From the article:
‘Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation certainly looks a hell of a lot better than Combats 1-5, but once you get past the incredibly detailed planes and crisscrossing contrails you’ll find the same old Ace Combat, still on autopilot. Some gamers will be quite happy with more arcadey shootin’ and missile dodging in licensed aircraft. Others may (continue to) wonder why they should care about some arbitrary conflict between improbably-named countries, and an overwrought series of cut-scenes that might actually be improved by a liberal application of signature John Woo slow-mo doves.

Combat’s missions are long and relatively varied — and I qualify that with ‘relatively’ because launching a homing missile at a battleship really isn’t much different from launching a homing missile at a tank or at an AA gun. But you will have to make choices within each mission based on incoming radio chatter and shifting battle conditions. Lend your help to advancing ground forces or head over yonder and take out a nest of fighters, but you may not be able to do both. At least not with just one playthrough.’

Preview of Condemned 2: Bloodshot

1up has posted a preview of Condemned 2: Bloodshot for the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles. The first Condemned ended up a sleeper hit, gaining a large fanbase. This time arounf it appears as though Sega has taken it even further.

From the article:
‘We stopped by Sega’s offices earlier this week to get a look at Condemned 2’s third mission, which just so happens to take place during Halloween. And sure enough, in the mission players come across masked enemies fighting each other on train tracks in what Sega calls a ‘riot.’ We’re not sure if that’s the best word to use, since the screen isn’t exactly filled with enemies, but it’s an impressive scene that comes as close as we’ve seen in a game to a real fist fight.

When you come across these enemies attacking each other, they’ll turn and start to pursue you, but at all times they remain aware of everyone in the room. So if an enemy takes a wide swing at you and there happens to be another enemy within breathing room of his elbow, that guy will get taken out as well. With the sound effects and enemy animations where they are at this point in development, even a simple scene like this looks great and adds a lot to the physical feel of being in this world.’

Vid featuring stills from the title:

Gamestop No Longer Offering PRPs For Xbox 360s

Gamersreports is reporting that Gamestop stores have stopped offering product replacement plans for Xbox 360s.
From the article:
‘When we asked our source why this is happening, we were told it was because GS is losing too much money on the program! You can read this all for yourself, we included three different copies of the document, as it was taken with a cell phone and is a bit hard to read.’

Below is a photo of the official order from Gamestop Corporate to stores everywhere.

More News on Guitar Hero and Rock Band Compatability

IGN Brings us further updates as to the compatibility of the various guitars soon to be in circulation.

From the article:
‘Harmonix develops and bases all of our games, guitars and other peripherals on open standards established by platform manufacturers such as Microsoft and Sony. Rock Band is no exception and supports an open controller standard. Guitar controllers are like any other standard game controllers–the controller sends a signal back to the game depending on the buttons you push. If a third party game controller is based on open standards, then it should work with Rock Band as well. If certain controllers do not work with Rock Band, questions about those controllers should be directed to the peripheral manufacturer. In addition, we welcome any 3rd party software that wishes to support Rock Band guitars. If a 3rd party guitar / music game does not support the Rock Band guitar controller, questions regarding this should be directed to the game manufacturer.

The official Rock Band guitars and peripherals are custom designed to help players to blur the line between playing a game and being in a band. Harmonix has modeled the guitar on a Fender Stratocaster and engineered the strum bar so it feels like you are playing a real guitar. We have ten fret buttons–5 on the top and 5 on the bottom—and have even built in a five-way effects switch that interacts with the game. Obviously the players have a choice, but we truly feel that once they play Rock Band with the Stratocaster, they will not want to use any other guitar controller.’

Burnout Paradise Street Date Confirmed

Gamespot is reporting that Electronic Arts’ racer Burnout Paradise will be hitting North American store shelves on January 22nd. The European release date has not been mentioned at this time.

From the article:
Eager gamers who can’t wait for the New Year to check out the first open-world installment in Criterion’s long-running series will be able to grab a glimpse of what the game offers a little early. EA is planning to release downloadable demos for both versions of the game in December.

The demo will include a look at the game’s new stunt mode, as well as the chance to race through the game’s streets in search of the fastest route to a set destination. Gamers will also get to check out the new multiplayer emphasis by competing in three challenges online, or make use of the system’s camera peripherals to see the look on the face of a rival racer being rubbed into a guardrail.

AVP: Requiem’s Alien/Predator Hybrid Revealed

AICN has posted the newly released image of the hybrid Alien/Predator creature being featured in the next AVP movie, Requiem….I dont know but I think this creature looks…pretty damn lame. It just doesn’t flow well together at all. The dog/Alien from Alien 3 was a great example of a hybrid design, flowing well with the two forms in it’s genes. This creature just looks like it was thrown together over a few days with no forethought of cohesive design.

The image of the creature follows the trailer:

Battlestar Galactica Season Starting Later Than Planned

AICN is reporting that Galactica’s final season which was previously set to start back up in January has now been pushed back to April. This also coincides with the release of the Season 3.0 DVD. Season four is expected to be the final season of the show and Ronald D. Moore will be making his directorial debut in one of the last ten episodes of the show.

Guitar Controller Incompatibility A Possibility!

1up is reporting on a rumor that seems to have some weight to it suggesting that the controllers for Rock Band and Guitar Hero III will NOT be cross compatible. If this is the case it means gamers will either have to fork over more then the cost of a Wii for both bundles.

From the article:
‘Harmonix develops and bases all of our games, guitars and other peripherals on open standards established by platform manufacturers such as Microsoft and Sony. Rock Band is no exception and supports an open controller standard,’ said a Harmonix spokesperson. ‘Guitar controllers are like any other standard game controller — -the controller sends a signal back to the game depending on the buttons you push. If a third party game controller is based on open standards, then it should work with Rock Band as well.’

This would suggest that Guitar Hero III’s interface doesn’t use the open standards provided by Microsoft and Sony. The conspiracy theory would suggest Guitar Hero III purposely implements a closed controller standard so it can only properly interface with the peripherals specifically designed for it. That makes sense, as Rock Band is the biggest competition Guitar Hero faces this holiday season and purposely locking out a rival’s peripheral directly forces consumers to choose one or the other — a convenient option given that Guitar Hero III ships ahead of Rock Band.

The U.S. Postal Service Unleashes the Force!

Yahoo reports that the United States Postal Serivce is releasing a stamp featuring everyone’s favorite Jedi Master, Master Yoda!

As of today (Thursday), the stamp which was once part of a larger set is now singly available for customers to add a little more security to the delivery process.

Guard your letter he will, yes.

Spiritual Tribes Sequel Coming From GarageGames

Shacknews is reporting that sources are claiming GarageGames has begun working on a Tribes-style shooter. As a person who played Tribes to death and loved every second of it I can’t wait. This could be the game Tribes 2 was meant to be.

From the article:
A source close to GarageGames told Shacknews a team-based online
shooter in the vein of Dynamix’ Starsiege: Tribes will be coming to the
gaming service soon from GarageGames’ own developers.
GarageGames was of course founded by many ex-Dynamix employees, and
the source said the company would most likely be making an official
announcement for the game in December.