So the year will come to a close in about 9 hours....

So, now that 2006 is over it would seem that the generation of PS2's, Xbox's and Gamecube's have to a close. 2007 will usher the newest in gaming for the latest generation of consoles. The true battle for King of the NextGen begins at midnight. 2007 seem's to have a very strong lineup for all 3 consoles. Although, 3 of my favorites will, more than likely, not show up for this year. Those 3 are Gran Turismo 5, FFXIII and MGS4. Of course, like most people, I can wait. After all, the more time they spend on the game the more time it will allow for Squenix, Polyphony Digital and Konami to iron out the kinks out of these, what could be, prosperous titles.

I will be picking up my PS3 by March just for Tekken 5: Dark Ressurection and Virtua Fighter 5. Both games will keep me engrossed until Devil May Cry 4 rears its ugly head. This will definitely be a year for spending(again) when it comes to gaming.

Although, I'm praying to the greater gaming God's that the Sixaxis(spelled backwards its STILL Sixaxis) is lowered in price. $50 for a controller is just soooooooooo outrageous. Considering I go through those like a pitcher of iced tea.

But, anyway, my fingers are tiring out. It's New Year's Eve and it's time to ring in the new year with some sort of festivities. Either that, or get drunk off my ass and make an ATTEMPT at playing Victorious Boxers 2 without losing.

Have a happy new year folks and keep on reading! We'll be updating a lot more in 2007. It's gonna be a busy year. Game on!

Wii Prototype Controllers

CHEDDAR! Seriously, these are funny looking. Top left (as most people already pointed out) looks more like the actual released one. Makes me want to wait to buy a Black Wii. Haha.

Anyway, source here.

*Looks down* Megaman will soon be drinking....

Well, fuck me on a flagpole, there's a new Megaman game coming out? AND the Blue Bomber turns 20. Ah, to be 20 again. Good times. I was there 2 years ago. Horrible experience.

Anyway, I finally got the first Phoenix Wright game and I must say that it is pretty damn good. Some of the most unique gameplay I've ever come across. I will never regret this awesome purchase. Ever. Only $19.99 as well at Toys 'R Us. I'll have that finished some day.

I also got Victorious Boxers: Fighting Spirit 2 in the mail the other day. Right now I'm upto Jason Ozuma and he's kicking my ass. But, the one thing that makes this game shine is the gameplay. The controls are pretty weird because the way you move depends on your angle in the ring. So, the left analog stick REALLY means a lot to this game. The only gripe I have is the hitboxes. How big are they really? A jab hits from far distance AND you can be knocked down by a jab. It's damn well near impossible to K.O. someone in this game. The story mode is alright. It basically goes along the story of the anime and since I have yet to beat the game I have clue as to how far the story mode goes. I know Bryan Hawk is in it. And that's pretty far into the manga(Vol. 45-ish).

Other than that, it's been a pretty slow month in terms of games. Well, I do have the following to finish:

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Final Fantasy III
Phoenix Wright
Victorious Boxers 2
Final Fantasy XII

So, that's not too bad for this winter. Soon, enough we'll be ending the year in about two weeks and you may be thinking "Well, it's the end of the year, they HAVE to do a Top Ten Games of the Year post." Well, you're thinking wrong. Soooo...if it's possible, we'll let the readers vote or something and post up what you guys think are the 10 greatest games of 2006. And if not, then fuck it. Who are we to say what are the 10 best games of this year? It's all subjective anyway. I don't want our list appearing on some gay ass forum anyway.

Anyway, outward and onwards my fellow gamers. Time to soft reset and start a new day.

Mega Man Turns 20! Almost drinking age!

"Capcom is pulling out all the stops with promotional events and a campaign to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its beloved hero, Mega Man, on December 17th, 2007.

Mega Man was introduced to the world on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987 and has garnered sales of 26 million units worldwide. The hero, Mega Man, and a cast of distinct villains with their own unique personalities and powers have always held a special appeal for audiences of all ages, but most notably for a younger male audience. The Mega Man character is Capcom’s oldest character brand. In addition to video games, Mega Man has been featured in a wide range of products such as cartoons, movies, comic books, toys, and many other licensed goods.

The first commemoration comes in the form of a new Mega Man series called Mega Man Star Force. Mega Man Star Force is the first game of in the series to feature three different versions and they were released in Japan on December 14th. Capcom's website will also feature the blue hero’s anniversary logo and a special site chronicling 20 years of Mega Man history from the original game right up to Mega Man Star Force. This special site will feature design sketches from Mega Man's long history and is just one of the many events planned over the next year to celebrate Mega Man's birthday.

Capcom will continue to strive to introduce unique and universally beloved characters such as Mega Man that appeal to users of all ages."

As if we didnt get enough Mega Man! Haha, no, seriously. I enjoy alot of the titles, and its cool to see it still get so much support. Long live great series of old!

Capcom Announcement Page
20th Anniversary Page

SNK vs. Capcom DS Coverage [+ Art and Offic. Site]

It's coming. For those of you who care, the sequel to the cult favorite SNK vs. Capcom is coming to a DS near you. Our fello game junkies across the seas Game Watch has coverage (in japanese) and artwork and screens of the game up now. Also, the official site is up too, and I suggest you check it out.

Game Watch Page
Official Site Link

Phoenix Wright 4 Scans

Heres some new scans for the 4th PW title. Loving the bishie Dante/Jojo-like character (no homo). This series has become extremely popular in Japan and the States. So if you'd like to see a 4th, buy the 2nd title to help convince them to bring it over.


Page 1
Page 2

ZA WUUUUDO!

First Tekken 5 : DR Screens

So, here we are. Besides a higher resolution, it looks to be the same game as before (sans playable Jinpachi, the Tekken 5 Boss).

According to GameWatch (source for images and info this time around), it will take up 800MB [T5:DR]. Seems interesting to say the least, and I'm sure most (including me) are happy to get a version thats more widely available, and will be on a large screen (ok, so you can find a PS3 anywhere, but I also dont own a damn 250 dollar PSP, or have access to any arcade 50 miles of my home, so shoot me).

Anyway, enjoy yer screens!

GameWatch Tekken 5: Dark Ressurection Screens Link is Here, Son!

Latest Famitsu* Scores

Taken from The-MagicBox.com -

Wii

Bleach Wii: Hakujin Kirameku Rondo (Sega): 7, 7, 6, 7 - (27/40)

Rabbids Party (Ubisoft): 7, 8, 8, 7 - (30/40)

Nintendo DS

Chocobo to Mahou no Ehon (Square Enix): 8, 8, 8, 9 - (33/40)

SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS (SNK Playmore): 7, 6, 5, 7 - (25/40)

Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren DS (Sega): 9, 9, 8, 8 - (34/40)

Gintama: Gintoki vs Hijikata! Kabukichou Gintama Dai Soudatsusen!! (Banpresto): 7, 6, 6, 8 - (27/40)

Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore (Konami): 8, 7, 7, 7 - (29/40)

Naruto: Shinobi Retsuden (Takara Tomy): 7, 6, 6, 6 - (25/40)

Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary (Sega): 8, 7, 7, 8 - (30/40)

Quiz! Nihongo-Ou (Success): 7, 6, 5, 7 - (25/40)

Ryuusei no RockMan (Capcom): 8, 8, 7, 9 - (32/40)

The Sims 2: Pet Wan Nyan Life (EA): 6, 7, 6, 6 - (25/40)

PlayStation 2

Wild Arms: The Vth Vanguard (Sony): 8, 9, 8, 9 - (34/40)

TOCA Race Driver 2: The Ultimate Racing Simulator (Interchannel): 8, 8, 7, 7 - (30/40)

Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 13 Ketteiban (Konami): 9, 9, 8, 9 - (35/40)

Daisenryaku VII Exceed (System Soft): 7, 7, 6, 7 - (27/40)

Xbox 360

World Soccer Winning Eleven X (Konami): 9, 8, 8, 10 - (35/40)

Oneechanbara vorteX (D3 Publisher): 7, 7, 6, 7 - (28/40)

Chikyuu Boueigun 3 (D3 Publisher): 8, 7, 7, 8 - (30/40)

Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (Tecmo) - 9, 9, 8, 9 - (35/40)

Lost Planet (Capcom) - 9, 9, 8, 8 - (34/40)

A-Train HX (ArtDink) - 6, 7, 7, 7 - (27/40)

Sonic the Hedgehog - 7, 8, 8, 7 - (30/40)

PSP

TOCA Race Driver 2: The Ultimate Racing Simulator (Interchannel): 8, 8, 7, 8 - (31/40)

Daisenryaku Portable 2 (Genki): 7, 7, 6, 9 - (29/40)

World Soccer Winning Eleven 10: Ubiquitous Edition (Konami): 9, 8, 8, 9 - (34/40)

Second glancing the 360 scores here, and I see a very, very healthy score for Lost Planet. I cant wait to give that a go.


*I'm think its Famitsu. Hell, I'm sure it is.

Virtua Fighter 5 US Site goes live!

I think I creamed myself. Looping vid, nice flash layout, + screens and movie. This is next-gen people. Anyway, check it out.

VF5 US Site

This guys a Super-Nerd/the Coolest Person in the world!

Some guy built himself the ultimate cabinet to house all his half a grand gaming systems, and controllers, complete with Star Trek lighting, I mean, LED lights!

I want.

Source

GameStop, my enemy......Part 2

Sooooo......as some of you may have noticed, I went on this tirade yesterday about the Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin pre-order bonus that GameStop DID NOT guarantee upon the day of release. Upon calling today at 1:00 p.m. yet again, they said that the game did come with the bonus. BUT, it was for those that reserved before November 20th. So, apparently one of their employees lied to me. Which is great. More reason to hate those bastards.

But, yeah, I got it. It's nice and the CD has a total of 37 tracks on it. The stylus looks nice. But, since my DS Lite is black and the stylus is white, I think I'll use it as a toothpick. The box is alright. The picture that IGN.com used looked way better for some reason. Oh, it also comes with a game carry case. You can hold upto two DS games in there. Not too bad for those of us that want to carry more than one game(Phoenix Wright and FFIII will occupy that space).

And on the gaming side of things: Phoenix Wright is a work of art. I'm loving that game. A game that finally requires the full usage of the human brain. Or something to that extent. Still a fun and innovative game. More on that as I progress through it. Also, the pre-order for Phoenix Wright 2: Justice For All is up on GameStop's site. You get a stylus with a little screen whipe for whenever you get some human girth on it.

GameStop, my enemy......

So, as some of you may know the Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin limited edition box is out as we speak. On the East Coast at least. I called GameStop this afternoon at, about, 1:00 p.m. and I promptly asked if they had gotten in the LE boxes in. The girl on the other end said "Yeah, they came in. But, they sold out already." Much to my dismay I nearly through my cellphone into the garbage and started crying. After all, this is something I had been waiting for TWO fucking months already. And to have it sellout just like that!? I had this pre-ordered before PLENTY of people at the time. How the fuck is it possible that Johnny Doughnuts, who pre-ordered two weeks ago, gets one and I don't? How the fuck!?

I hate to say this, but, with the way things went with the PS3 pre-orders and now this.....I don't even know what to do anymore when it comes to pre-ordering games. FFXII was pre-ordered ASAP and guess what? SquareEnix decided to throw out their ENTIRE inventory of LE tins into all GameStops and EB Games.

I remember back in the day when we pre-ordered something game-related we actually got the fucking item. Now we have to pre-order in direct fear of these, truly, limited items. I think I'm just about done with pre-ordering crap. I've had. If I pre-order something months in advanced I don't deserve to be told "First come, first served" for NOTHING.

Anyway, I'm gonna pre-order MGS4 and a shitload of PS3 games next year. Yes, I'm contradicting myself. BUT, at least I get the game before a bunch of people.

And to the person that got MY Castlevania Limited Edition box. FUCK YOU!

Copy Pasta from 4chan

An anonymous poster from 4chan posted the greatest thing ever. A sort of "letter" directed at the current gaming community, and scene as a whole. Too good.

"Listen up Nintendo...

Don't know if you got the memo or not, but excellence just isn't gonna cut it anymore. We finally received our Wii at the office last Friday, and after spending most of the weekend playing Zelda and Red Steel, all I can say is: It's not enough.

Sure, Twilight Princess is the best looking Zelda game ever. And sure, the motion-based controls and built-in remote speaker add a new degree of immersion. And sure, it might just be the most fun game released this year.

But that's just it, Fun.You don't get "it." Fun's for babies. Gamers these days don't buy consoles for fun. Do you think I spent two weeks waiting in the pouring rain for a PS3 for "fun?"

Sure, I might have wanted a console for fun...when I saw six. Nowadays I'm too busy for that. I need productivity. Can the Wii play movies? Can it do my taxes? Can it teach my son how to make love to a woman? I didn't think so.

And let's not forget about graphics. Sure, Twilight Princess might look "realistic," but it's just not bloomy enough for my taste. And where's the physics-enabled grass? Let's face it, if the Wii can't produce physics-enabled grass, and lots of it, you're stuck in the '80s."

Fucking greatness.

15K PS3s auctioned off in first week on eBay

Originally reported via Gamespot.com

"Some opportunists saw the recent launch of the PlayStation 3 as a chance to make a quick $1,000. Their plan was to rough it in front of a store for days in hopes of getting one of the hard-to-find consoles and reselling it to cash-flush gamers willing to pay a premium for the system.

Popular online auction site eBay was the online marketplace of choice for most people looking to sell or buy a PS3, and the company revealed some of the numbers from the console's first week in North America.

eBay released data on its sales for Black Friday, the popular shopping day immediately following Thanksgiving, and tucked between the sales numbers of Tickle-Me Elmos and fruitcakes was information on sales of the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360.

For the period between and including November 17 to November 24--the PS3's first eight days on sale--14,675 PS3s were sold through the online site for an average price of $1,186. eBay did not separate information for the PS3's two models; a 60GB version retails for $599 and a 20GB version sells for $499.

Those who hawked preorders fared slightly better. From October 19 to November 24, which included what eBay calls"pre-sale activity," 28,233 PS3s (or preorder rights to the machines) were sold for an average price of $1,370.

Numbers of the more readily available and cheaper Wii weren't too surprising. From the $250 console's debut on November 19 through Black Friday, 26,708 Wiis were sold on eBay for an average price of $412. Preorder madness wasn't as great for Nintendo's console--29,452 Wiis were sold for an average of $427.82 from October 19 to November 24.

The Web site also released information on sales of the Xbox 360, reporting that 331 systems were sold between November 12 and November 24 for an average of $421.

Prices for both the PS3 and Wii on eBay have been falling sharply since their much-hyped launches. A quick glance at listings on the site shows that most PS3 auctions (which still number more than 10,000) aren't exceeding $1,000, and most Wiis aren't going for more than $300."

Now, we all saw this coming. Hell, Pre-Order RECIEPTS were going well over 3 grand. Bascily, I just feel sorry for them. Hell, with Sony's recent announcement that they *plan* to have at least 1 million units before Dec 31, these people who are shelving out money well over the value are just foolish. Wii's will be widely available anyway (thx Nintendo), so I unno. Its just said IMO. Anyway, I still havent snagged a PS3 myself, but I'll get one sooner of later. You can always head over to Play-Asia and snag a Japanese PS3 (plays all Blue-Rays and Games anyway). I may do that myself...

Source

New Brawl/X Scan, and shots via official site!

Brand new screens (kinda), and the Nintendo World trailer are at the official site [English], here.

Note: The game looks to be shaping up quite nicely. Demo please Nintendo?

Random News (Wii Updates)

America is showing the Wii a hell of alot of love. The current shipment of Wii's has completely sold out, with more supposedly coming out Friday, although in smaller numbers.

System is currently displaying a few errors (the systems were originally supposed to come with a "boot" disc of sorts, but was scrapped and Nintendo simply pre-booted them before sending hem out). Sadly, some of the systems seemed to have been missed. Not major, send to Nintendo or retailer, and get a replacement once its available.

Videos of Errors here.

Seems someone has found a way to run his naughty Emulators on the Wii aswell. Mwhaha. - Clever, evil man playing SNES9x on Wii. I'm interested in seeing what Nintendo does to prevent that from happening again. And update of some kind? Its possible.

Majority of sources are praising Twilight Princess as the best Zelda game ever. Even the lowest scorers (Gamespot) giving it an 8.8, its still a damn good score. I wont spoil TP (havnt played it myself, but some boobs revealed information at a site I visit, without giving Spoiler Warnings.

Also, seeing it in person at my job (Target) really makes me smile. It is one sexy ass piece of plastic and metal.

Evolution of Console Controllers

I thought this site was pretty damn neat (came across it via Kotaku.com). He really goes into detail on alot of the controllers, and he's pretty on the ball with most of the info. Good work, sir.

Sock Master's VideoGame Controller Family Tree!

Angry Nintendo Nerd

LOL





This guy is funny. For those of you who havnt caught this guys Video "blogs", I suggest you check them out. Dude is hilarious. His random Blurbs make me laugh. Seriously, watch this guy.


You can check out his site, here. Support our fellow nerds!

- Shade

PS3 Launch Madness, Complete with Crazyness, Sorrow, Heartbreak, some Joy I guess, and Other Surprises!

So I got up at 3:47 in the am, getting ready for the PS3 launch of moronic, yet still epic proportions. To kill time before I head off for the opening madness, I discuss PS3 launch plans with a friend both of us wanting to get of course the PS3. Although I should really have no intention to, since I'm an import gamer and my last three systems (PS2, DS and PSP) are all of the Japanese flavour, and I'd like to continue that with the PS3. Add that to the fact that the Japanese 20GB PS3 is like $100+ cheaper compared to the domestic Canadian version of the same model (yes folks, your king is from the land of the Canadas where polar bears run wild, and the only internet access point is in town hall where we take turns charging up the generator with the use of dogsled power). But even though I was smart enough to wait, I was also stupid enough to let the Sony hype machine get to me, and it's funny since the PS1, PS2, and PSP hype machines didn't do shit to me (didn't buy a PS2 until like 2003). Anyhoo I got ended up getting ready to seal my fate, err go to the local mall, Metrotown. Link here for anyone curious.

Now my PS3 crusade starts, for the past couple of weeks I have been scouting and doing my research on the numbers of the PS3 and which entrances/exits to hit and whatnot of course to make a safe getaway. So I pretty much knew what store to hit, and the only store that didn't do preorders or have a ridiculously long line. So I narrowed it down to the SonyStore, who said they were getting less than 10 units, a mix of 20GBs and 60GBs.

Once I got to the mall at around 5AM, I prepared to wait at the only entrance that was supposed to be opened early and that was the one near the transit area. For the first 20 minutes or so, I was alone and so far my plan was foolproof! Or so I thought, the first couple of people started coming and we started to exchange information. Apparently the entrance that was supposed to be opened early was not going to be opened early because of the PS3 launch. So we had to wait, and soon we started to see the crazyness begin. Office workers in the office tower were able to get into the mall using their cards and some kids were able to talk the Starbucks to let them in, but the very same Starbucks staff didn't do the same for us. So me and a few other people decided to find another way of getting in.

We try the other entrances but no go, so we think about using the parking lot entrances. Anyway as luck would have it or notso have it, security was kicking people out of the mall. But, we eventually find a really good entrance that is close to the SonyStore and we pretty much sneak in. Unfortunately, other people have found ways to sneak in too and the security was pretty much on their heels with the crazy PS3 hunters. I eventually meet up with more PS3 launch people and one of them told me that he and his friend had to pretty much Ninja'ed their way through the loading bay and all the security shit of one of the big stores since they are employees, but still it was like insane apparently and they were scared shitless or something like that.

So we all make our way to the SonyStore as it draws near to opening time, and this is where the crazyness starts, complete with pics!








As you can see the very angry mob starts to form an even angrier (is that even a word? lol) one, directing their angry and hate and lust at one entity.




Yes, the SonyStore.




Anyway the only thing standing between the mob is this small and whiny security guard(the one in the yellow), apparently the head security guard, how that happened I have no idea. I guess like how one of the guys there today put it, he must've had the most annoying and loudest voice, so they made him leader.

And obviously, the mob grows weary and annoyed as shown in these pics below, also the numbers continued to grow with each passing second:




Basically, the mob at Point A as shown here:


Yes, that guard thought he was all that. lol

Was trying to get at Point B, the SonyStore:


Pretty much, if the SonyStore didn't get their act together, there would be casualties, I can assure you that. The SonyStore and the security then tried to formulate new plans on trying to keep the mob from killing each other and everything else in their path:




With the mob getting even bigger, badder and more nastier, if the Sony dudes and Security didn't get their act together, heads will roll:






Anyhoo, not wanting to be associated with anymore horror stories, the SonyStore manager thinks he has devised a way to organize the matter:




They will have some sort of lottery, there will be 500 sheets of paper handed out, apparently 6 of them will have numbers and those who get the ones with numbers will walk away with a PS3, so yes the store only had 6 units, 4 60GB and 2 20GB.


By this time I already stopped caring, and just thought about importing later on, but I decided to get in line anyway for this "lottery" because hey, what do I got to lose?




Unfortunately, I drew a blank sheet, so I thought my day was done until it was found out that they fucked up the draw, since instead of having 500 sheets of paper, they had a thousand sheets of paper. Great job guys, retards. Anyway 5 of the numbered sheets were taken, so 5 of the PS3s were out of the question, so it was just down to one last one. Like other people who had drawn blank sheets, I went back in line again.



The new plan to lottery off the final PS3 was to have everybody guess a number between 1 and 1000, and the closest one would win. Needless to say I guessed wrong (896 ugh, the actual number was 626 if I'm not mistaken), so the nightmare was finally over.


Spectators look on, thinking, what the fuck are these people doing?

Anyway all was not lost, because apparently Futureshop (a Best Buy brand up here), was having a fucking ridiculous sale on the Xbox 360 for one day only. For $449 (Canadian), which is $50 off the regular price, you get a Premium 360 and FOUR, count'em FOUR FREE games. And guess what, they don't suck, you get Ridge Racer 6, GRAW, some Xbox Live Arcade Collection, but get this for the fourth game, GEARS OF FUCKING WAR BITCHES!!!!. They are fucking giving this shit away, so it's a ridiculous deal, so yes I buy it.



A mountain of Billy G's Sexboxes ready to please their next owner.

So yeah there you have it, that's what I went through today and really it turned out good after all. Well, just because I scored a 360 doesn't mean that I won't get a PS3, I'll still buy a Japanese PS3 in 1st Quarter 2007 (also because Power Smash 3/Virtua Tennis 3 and Virtua Fighter 5 hit in 1st Quarter 2007). It just means that I'll have both. And what happens with my 360 purchase? Well a number of things, I could end up liking it, thus keeping it and then trade in GRAW, RR6, XAC for something better like I dunno Dead Rising. Or I could return it, get my full refund, and since you can't return opened software, I could just trade the games in, so if Billionaire's 360 degree machine doesn't please me, I get my money back AND free money, so it's all good.



- Doctorb-V

Games no more?

Apparently according to the Entertainment Software Association, what we've been calling those things we've been playing for over 20 years, "videogames", is a bad thing to call the product of the industry or the industry itself. Looks like another excuse not to be associated with smelly kids.

- Doctorb-V