Sony has finally released the update to 3.10 after (what seems to be) at least 1 month of its release in Asia. The newest update covers support for playing PS1 online games, a new codec for playing MPEG-4 encoded movies (this is mainly videos that play in the QuickTime player on your computer) and a new Dynamic Normalizer that will balance out the music volume when a song is playing so you don’t have to keep changing the volume level during the song all the time.
Ubisoft, the makers of GRAW announced that they will be making a new GRAW game for the PSP, PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 that will release spring of 2007. It will be a direct sequal to the origional GRAW game. The game is set in 2014. With the high stake battle between Mexican loyalists and rebel forces has caused Mexico into civil war. You must command the Ghost Squadron to help protect the US.
The new game includes lots of new features:
- Groundbreaking Visual Experience: The war zone in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter comes to life as you navigate through trash-strewn streets and pick off enemies from behind bomb-scarred structures. The cutting-edge physics and particle systems will show you some of the most intense and realistic explosions, smoke, and environment destruction ever seen in a video game. Dynamic lighting and shadows will morph as real-time day/night cycles and a constantly changing weather system require you to adjust to the changing conditions on the fly.
- All-New Battlegrounds: For the first time ever, the Ghosts will defend U.S. soil from a cross-border attack, taking the fight to all-new locations. The Ghosts will battle enemies in mountain terrains, barren deserts and even on their home turf in El Paso, Texas. Each environment presents its own benefits and challenges and will call for fresh tactical approaches.
- Vastly Improved Artificial Intelligence (AI): Watch your back as rebels send their own team members to flank your position or gain vantage points by utilizing vertical gameplay to pick you off from the rooftops above. Improved squad-mate AI will now feed you more of the information you need with descriptive commands like “enemy spotted behind red truck ahead.”
- Improved Cross-Com: The revolutionary new Cross-Com 2.0 will give the player more information than ever before. You will be able to see what your friendly forces see in the top left display and the click of a button will expand that to full-screen view for a clearer and more precise picture. This will give you a more comprehensive view of the entire battlefield. The new Full Command View will allow unprecedented precision in developing and issuing tactical plans on the battlefield.
- Expanded Support: Command lethal air strikes with jet fighters, gain mobile cover for otherwise impassable situations and replenish armaments on the battlefield using an unmanned artillery MULE. Players can now heal their team on the battlefield, including squad leader Scott Mitchell, with an all-new Medic class of soldier.
I have never liked the Need For Speed series for various reasons. One because I never liked the crash effects, steering and the controls. However the cars were cool. Carbon seems to have made me reconsider a very bad review. Personally, I liked this game alot. I think it was well done. The game has a new feature called “call a crew member”, but I rather call it “SIC EM!”, since you are really just sending your crew car to get the guy. You call up a buddy who is constantly giving you radio help (like a real crew member) and telling you when other racers are about to crash you up. This is probably the best improvement in NFS. You got your little helper guy to help you out in tough jams. But since you have a helper, EA decided that the game would have to be just a tad tougher. But it really makes the game more fun to play.
I liked the idea that you could also customize your ride’s body. In previous NFS games you could only change how the car looked decal and color wise. This game in the series allows you to customize the body of the car. And modify things from rims, tire depth, hood depth, and all that other good stuff that I can’t remember right at this moment. And your car looks awesome on the track. Speaking of tracks, NFS: Carbon has a really cool track system. You have to earn tracks by defeating others but until then they are under the control of a rival Car Crew/Gang/Mob. That makes the story line a lot more exciting.
Now graphics in this game have improved from the blocky car designs seen in NFS: Underground 1&2 (I think they both look blocky, maybe cause I didn’t change the default settings). Anyhow, the graphics have really improved and they are great with the night time atmosphere. Overall, Carbon is way better then any of the other NFS games. This game is awesome, but still not as good as the Burnout series also made by EA. The controls have inproved but they aren’t perfect yet. The steering is better but it’s still really annoying. You will still spinout if you counterstear, and hear the stupid tire screaching noise when you are going really fast and start to turn. NFS:C has great motion blurs, that make you really feel the action. Now let’s get to the ratings.
The Ratings:
Sound: 8/10 -This is super! The talking that the crew member gives you doesn’t seem like it was recorded previously and seems like he is really saying it. Music was N/A, I just didn’t pay attention to it.
Graphics: 8/10 -Graphics have improved since NFS: Underground 2
Controls: 7/10 -The controls have moved to somewhere where they are more accessible but the Respawn button seems to be on the other side of the controller. No support for joysticks.
Playback: 8.5/10 -Great game but it can be a bit frusturating. Story is really interesting.
Improvement: 8/10 -Lots of great improvements.
Overall Score: 8/10 – Controls were okay, but they needed to be improved. Other wise if they were this game would have been an 8.5
An offtopic cool thing about this game: the loading screens have the best animation, and cool effects that I have ever seen (the ones that Burnout has are cool but they are kinda boring as they never change, it’s always the same 4 transitions).
I once reported the news on September 24th of this year. The original emulator was a very buggy emulator that ran games at 10fps max. Well the emulator has improved and games run close to their PSX speeds. It also now supports a bunch of games instead of just 3, they have a list that is viewable here. It now has a new name, the PS1P and doesn’t require you to own a PS3 (like Sony’s own emulator for the PSP requires [probably so they can increase the money in their wallets, a typical Sony ploy]). And it’s free. However the legality of the emulator is a bit iffy, but I am not a law/political/lawyer person so don’t take it from me.
Anyway here is the link to the emulator:
http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=43998
Enjoy.
Sony today announced that it was going to be releasing new colors for their PSP. This includes the origional Pink one we talked about earilier, as well as two new ones, blue (shown right) and gray.
Sony says that these PSPs will be out on November 22nd. But Sony didn’t mention if this was a limited time only deal or not. So if you want a colored PSP it would probably be safe to buy it when it comes out, rather than waiting for it to go on sale.
EA said today that they will be releasing Superman Returns The Videogame (To where? Blockbuster? Yeah that was a lame pun) for all systems but the GCN. It would seem like EA hasn’t learned from it’s past failures of Superman games..like the wonderful (not) Superman 64 which was a very very buggy game.
According to EA there will be around 100 missions that have been true to the comics (and not based directly on the movie [that's new]). But EA decided that voice acting was going to be a key element in making this game not equal crap, they monopolised the voices of the actors and their appearence from the movie. I am not completely dissing EA. But sometimes they need to know when to slow down and stop buying everyone out all the time.
But…if superman is invincible…how do you die? Well EA decided that superman can get tired out. So they made it so you would have to watch his stamina levels which get depleted everytime you use a superpower. Superman Returns The Videogame features a recreation of 80 square miles of the city, Metropolis.
The console versions: PS2, PC, Xbox, and Xbox 360 will be rated T while the DS and GBA will be rated E. The game comes out on November 20.
Legal notice: This voids your warranty (like all homebrews and emulators) and it is illegal to download video games “that you don’t own”. And you need the PS1 BIOS file which is SCPH1001.BIN but you can probably find it on the Internet (illegally).
So, what does this do? It’s an emulator for your PSP to play PS1 games. You need certain files to run it. And it’s kinda slow because games run at 10fps. According to the emulator website it says that it is for PSP versions (I am talking firmware versions) 1.0-2.60. The game runs ROMs that are in BIN or ISO format.
It is available for download here:
http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=36929
Sony announced the new PSP Entertainment pack which includes a 1GB memory stick, a Lords of Dogtown UMD, and ATV Offroad Fury all for just $250. The new bundle pack will be on sale tomorrow and will be available until Christmas is over.
Lego Star Wars 2 is a great game, I love legos. I like Starwars. It’s a great mix. In Lego Star Wars 2 you play through the “old school” movies with many references to the recent movies. Like the first game, it’s jam packed with humor. From Han Solo kissing Leia and then winking to the camera to things like the stormtroopers in a spa, or them acting like models to open the gates of doors. New to the game is the ability to customize your own character, bringing the true spirit of LEGO to the game. At times the game is really frustrating due to controls (I play with a joystick). And the game keeps repeating that you must press “J1_Button 1″, which I have no idea what that is since there is no button 1. The ability to change the controls is nice but the descriptions for what the buttons do are very very vague. I like the special powers some characters have, like chewbacca can rip other characters arms off or greedo (some weird bounty hunter) can throw thermal detonators as well as shoot you.
The graphics are really good for a lego game, in fact they improved from the last game. Better reflections (as seen in the photo above) and much more. The game has pretty good voice and sound. However most of the talking is “Blah blah blah”. But it makes the cut scenes a lot funnier. That aside, let’s get to the ratings:
Graphics: 8/10 - A nice improvement from the last game
Sound/Music: 9/10
Controls: 6/10 – Yeah it kinda failed here, with terrible button descriptions and the annoying messages
Playback: 10/10 – Awesome makes me wanna play again
Improvement: 9/10 – Great improvement except the controls are a step back from the first game.
Overall Score: 8/10 -Awesome game just needs better control functionality.The best version to get is the Xbox 360 version as it’s controls, sound and options for graphics are way better then the PC version.
The DS version is the game that you should pass on. Do not get this game. It’s not even fun. It’s a terrible port and is filled with levels that were not finished, terrible graphics and the whole game is pretty much a glitch. So many that you will go insane.
In other Sony news, Sony has announced that they will be making pink versions of the psp and ps2. They say the reason for this is because they want to target girls (as their current commericals seem to turn them off..wonder why?). However, this color is only availble in Europe and will be ready to be sold on November 8th.
The Pink PS2 will become…totally pink…with two pink controllers, a pink memory card, and supposively more pink crap. Sony has made the connection that girls like to sing. So, they are going to bundle Singstar Pop with the package as well. The pink system will cost €159.99
Which is the same thing as boot camp but for the PSP. EA Canada (the makers of the SSX series) announced that Medal of Honor is going to be on the PSP and will be out near Christmas. The game is exclusive to the PSP and will have characters from the past games you can play as. According to EA there will be over 20 characters you can unlock. The game will support 32 players in online matches playing in 15 different settings. There will be 6 multiplayer modes.
EA says the game is currently called Medal of Honor Heroes and the name may change in the future.
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