Congratulations!! It's A...

Friday we will hopefully be able to find out what we are having. I don't think either my wife or I really care what we are having, so long as it is healthy. So far in the few ultrasounds we have had the baby has not been very cooperative. Legs crossed, revealing nothing of what it may be. The appt we have Friday is apparently a 45min deal, so hopefully with that amount of time they will be able to say one way or another what's up.

Stay Tuned. If i find out actually what we are having i will post it asap. 

More MGS LBP info

So more information has come out on the MSG pack for LittleBigPlanet. The pack will hit the PSN on December 23rd (just in time for virtual stocking stuffing). The individual costumes will cost $2 or you can buy them as a pack for $6. Which includes the Snake, Meryl, Mantis, and Raiden costume. Raiden as announced before will not be sold as a stand alone, only in the pack.

The MGS level pack will also be $6 and includes a HUGE variety of items. First the Gurlukovich costume not available in the other costume pack. Also, 72 stickers, 12 materials, 10 decorations, 18 objects, and apparently more they don't mention. The biggest part (or maybe the smallest) is in this pack you will receive the "Paintinator", a small paint ball gun that your sack boy will carry around. It's the gun that is featured in the video above. 

Once again this whole package is looking better and better. Now that they have patched the game again (1.07) they added an ingame store to buy items from the PSN. They also added a more specific way to search for levels, in game. Very nice additions.  

!

As an update to a story i posted about previously Media Molecule and Sony have let loose with a few more details on the upcoming Metal Gear Solid pack for LittleBigPlanet. 

In addition to the costumes, buying the "Level Pack" will set you up for 11 new Trophies for LBP. Also of note is the fact that your Sackboy will be able to pack some heat (sort of) in the form of a paintball gun. This also will lend to the trophies that you can collect. 

This addition to the game sounds better and better the more i hear about it. To get a complete list of the trophies (both new and old) go to PS3Fanboy's site for just that.

This is all good news considering the fact that i got on to play LBP for the first time today in a while and couldn't get "Online" with it. I wasn't able to access any community levels, or anything else that required a connection to the servers. I thought they got all this sorted out. Did i miss something?

Strictly for the game Nerds.

The people that get it are already laughing. The ones that don't never will.

One good plug deserves another...

So since i got a plug on a recent Podcast from Fullsignull, i figured i would return the favor. I know you're not really supposed to send traffic away from your site but...

FullSignull is a website that revolves around Games and Tech. The also (as mentioned) have a podcast on iTunes, available here. They are just on their 9th podcast now and are starting to hit their stride, so to speak. 

Check out their site and give them a listen. Maybe if i send them enough hits i can get a guest spot on a show one day. 

You got your MGS in my LBP...

Finally a LBP download that i can get behind. Coming apparently very soon to the PSN is a download for LittleBigPlanet that will give you several things from MGS4. You can get them all separate for a small fee or together for a slightly larger one. Items include the "Old Snake" costume *pictured above* also a Meryl costume, and a Screaming Mantis suit. You can also get the MGS level pack as well. Sony will throw in for free if you buy them all a Sackboy version of Raiden from MSG4. 

They haven't given an exact date for the pack or a price break down. However if the past packs are any indication then the suits will be around 99¢ and the package deal probably around $4.99. Since there haven't been any "Level Packs" released there is no indication of what the price may be for that.  I can't imagine that they would charge much more than $5 for it though. It depends on what is involved in it i guess to determine the price. 

The Ol' Bait and Switch, "Home" Style!!

Ok so it's a given that this is going to happen (the Internet was created for these things) but this is just funny to watch. I love the reactions from the other avatars as they all just walk away.

Final Fantasy 6

Well i figured today was as good a day as any to drop a retro review of my favorite game of all time. Final Fantasy 6, or as it was known for so long in the states Final Fantasy 3.

I have such great memories of this game. I remember the first time i saw a friend of mine playing it at his house. I watched him play through about the first hour of the game with wide eyes, internally plotting how i could get the money to buy my own copy. 

I think the first thing that i got caught up in with this game was the graphics. For the time it was probably one of the most colorful and beautiful SNES games on the market. From the environments, to the characters, the spells, everything looked amazing on that 26 inch tube television. 

The story, as i would find out through playing the game, was very inviting and easy to keep up with, yet never boring. Of course this was before the cliche' of stories that had a main character that couldn't remember their past, but needed to save the future. I don't remember the exact count but, along the way you would meet and be able to use a very wide cast of characters. Ninjas, Fighters, Mages, even Gamblers and a feral human/animal thing would all join your party. Each bringing their own special abilities and weapon types.

The Music, well the music from most games sticks with me years after the game has gone. Nobou Uematsu composed some of the most memorable music of the series (at least for me) for this game. Once again, like River City Ransom, I took some of the music and made a ring tone for my cell phone. It's hard to describe music from a game like this and do it justice, the easiest thing to do would be go and find it and give it a listen. I am sure that you can find most if not all of the important songs on imeem.

Gameplay... well as far as RPG's go or the Final Fantasy series goes, it wasn't really revolutionary. However it did introduce a couple of new gameplay mechanics to the series. Sabin (the monk/fighter) had different special moves that he could pull off so long as you entered them in SFII style on the controller. There were also a couple times when your party would be forced to split up and you had to control each independently of the other. These situations usually happened at key plot points in the story. 

There isn't room enough for all the good things that i could say about this game. Like i said before it is probably my all time favorite game. I own it for about three different systems. I play though the bulk of the story regularly about once every 2 years. Sure i know how the story will end, and nothing surprises me anymore in the game but that doesn't matter. From the first time i played it years ago to the last time i played it a couple months ago it still entertains me. 

If you have never played the game before and are a fan of RPGs from the later era of the SNES days, you owe it to yourself to play this one. Other than the original SNES cart, you can also find it on the GBA, and on the PSX as part of the "Final Fantasy Anthology".

Later, Sports. First, The News.

Finally some news worthy, uh, news. 

Konami announced that they are bringing several of their games over to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The games that interest me the most are Silent Hill: The Escape, and Metal Gear Solid Touch. 

Silent Hill: The Escape is "a First person 3D shooting game that lets players utilize the control features on the iPhone and iPod Touch..."

Metal Gear Solid Touch is "an original game that brings to life the world and characters" of MGS4. There are eight "touch shooting" levels available in the initial release and more to come later. 

The other titles they announced were, Dance Dance Revolution S Lite and Frogger. Neither of which really grabbed me and made me happy i actually have an iPod Touch now. MSGT is supposedly coming out for a "Spring 2009" release. And if John Davison is to be believed then Silent Hill: The Escape is headed to the iPod/iPhone this month.

You Look Nice Today

Ok so I have long since been trying to find Comedy Podcasts that were, in actuality, comedic.  Recently I stumbled upon a few Twitter feeds for a couple different people that always seem to make me laugh (hotdogsladies, scottsimpson, and lonleysandwich). Looking deeper into the info behind these guys, much to my surprise and excitement, they conduct a podcast. 

The name of the Podcast is "You Look Nice Today." It is a little hard to describe. I guess you could roughly put it into words by saying it is a couple of guys sitting around talking and cracking jokes. But that wouldn't do it the justice it deserves. They are all very smart, well read, and have a vocabulary that far exceeds my own. However what draws me to the podcast is their extremely dry wit. Listening to them banter back and forth is great, most of the time i find myself rewinding parts b/c i have just laughed through the tail end of a joke. 

It may not be video game related but it is well worth the listen if you just want straight up humor on you iPod or other mp3 playing device. I mean really how can you go wrong with a podcast that has episode titles like "Nicklepuss" and "Where is the ham?"

Here is the link to their podcast through iTunes. 

Cue the tumble weeds...

Ugh! This truly is the "Dry Season". I can't find anything news worthy out there. The only thing really talked about is how bad the VGA's were last night on Spike. I will find out for myself tonight. I figured recording them on my DVR then having the ability to fast forward the horrible celebrity banter was the best option. 

There aren't any new games coming out that are worth even mentioning. The Christmas season sucks as far as new releases, especially if you can afford to buy things when they come out the month before. Then you don't even have something to look forward to in your stocking. 

I don't even think i can come up with something interesting that i saw/thought about on the highway today. Other than the fact that it is 70° today and Christmas is a week and a half away.

Way back Wednesday, now on Thursday...

Let's see, where to begin. 

River City Ransom. This is one of those games that you play over and over again, never really caring about how short it is (or how short you could make it). I remember playing this one with a friend A LOT over the course of about a day and a half. I don't think it was even a continuous play, i think we played it, stopped then played more starting from the beginning. 

This game was memorable for a huge list of small quirks that just made it so much fun. For instance, the fact that the main characters were "Alex" and "Ryan", pretty simple boring everyday names. Also the "story" revolved around you getting through River City then defeating the man behind the take over of "River City High School" named "Slick". In defeating Slick you also rescued Ryan's girlfriend "Cyndi". That was pretty much the entire plot.

This game also managed to hide the fact that it was a beat-em-up wrapped around a RPG. Inside the various stores you were able to purchase food, books, and other accessories. Food ranged from egg rolls to pizza, and the books had titles like "Stone Hands" and "Dragon Feet". Buying books, and sometimes different foods would boost your stats, as well as giving you a permanent upgrade to your attacks and defence. 

Also this game was just a huge time sink if you wanted it to be. I can remember playing for hours on end just taking one player with a stick and one with a rock and just playing stickball in the game. Probably now what the developers had in mind with those two weapons but, i am sure i am not alone in using them for that purpose. 

The interaction between the enemies and heroes was pretty good too, i can't remember any specific lines of dialogue. However i do remember that the names of the gangs were hilarious. You had the "Generic Dudes" the "Frat Boys", and more specifically you had guys named "Moose" that you fought against. Oh and sometimes when they died, if they didn't run away, they would say things like "Barf!". Hilarious!

The music also has a way of working it's way into my head from time to time. So much so that i actually took the music from the store interior and made it my ring tone on my cell phone. 

Like with the previous games i have listed in this section of my blog, i would love to see another more updated version. Again, however, i don't want some slapped together shadow of a game. If they can't make one worth the time of the fans of the original, don't bother. I am happy just playing the Virtual Console version of the NES cart for the time being. 

Home Delay

This is why people have lost faith in Playstation home.

From PS3Fanboy.com

Did you hear? The Home open beta starts today. The client has been patched up to version 1.03 and the servers are down while Sony does various jiggerypokery behind the scenes. TedTheDog states that the service should be back up, along with the launch of open beta, "early PM UK time," though he adds that he can't be more specific than that, thanks to the nature of the global updates.

Ted also confirms that the Home icon will appear on the XMB as soon as the final switch is pulled, though people who are using their PS3s at the time will need to restart. In case you're wondering, it's already past Midday in the UK, so it could go live at any minute. We'll update this post as soon as that happens.

[UPDATE] TedTheDog has updated with the current situation, as of 3pm GMT (10am EST): "Still progressing nicely, now on the testing stage. No eta still as I wouldnt want to guess how long it will take for each region to verify its elements are working but we're getting there." Shouldn't be too long now ...

More updates after the break[UPDATE 2] Rut roh! "Testing complete and a couple of technical problems have been found. We need to iron these issues out first and I'm waiting to hear how long that might take (I'm not qualified to even guess, its very technical). Apologies, I know you all want to get in but we must get these things right. And please remember, this is a beta and today is our first step into the Open Beta environment and what we're doing today is part of the beta process itself."

Also, it appears that the Far Cry 2 and Uncharted spaces won't be available in the European beta today. Likewise the new Diesel and Ligne Roset stores, along with the Red Bull Air Race, won't be available til next week. The American beta should include all these things today. Feel free to say mean things about SCEE in the comments below.

[UPDATE 3] Things don't seem to be going brilliantly over at Sony HQ. TedTheDog writes: "Apologies for the delay in an update, you may have noticed a PSN outage in the last hour. Things seem back on track now although the outage delayed us a little we are moving again. Hope to have another update soon."

According to the Twitter post of both PS3Fanboy and PSHomeCentral, the Home servers are now live. At least until they crash from all the people trying to get in. The time is 4:40pm Est

Mama... Mama I'm Coming Home!

So the wait is over. Tomorrow December 11th 2008, Playstation's Home Open Beta will be here. Really the only question bigger than what will it be like is, does anyone still care? 

I mean this thing was announced in March of 2007 and was slated for its "Original" release in Sept of the same year. It has been in development since 2005. PS3 owners have been hearing literally for years about the functionality of the social networking community. There has been closed beta testing since before summer. Sony has been dropping tiny little tidbits here and there for what seems like forever. When the wool was partially pulled off of our collective eyes they revealed that most of what was promised has been "scaled back". 

About the only thing that i care about with this anymore is the "Trophy Room". Where, you guessed it, your trophies are displayed for you and your friends to see. I may venture out of my house to look around the different game inspired sites. Some seem more exciting than others, like the Uncharted Bar, or the Far Cry 2 desert. 

I dunno i just can't get excited about it anymore. Even knowing for SURE that it will drop tomorrow, i still don't care much. I guess time will tell if their years of work on the community was worth it. I am sure though that the people that drool over the NXE avatars, and the Wii Mii's will be all about this. Eh... 

Random thoughts

So i am driving down the road today (where i do some of my best and most random thinking) and two things came to my mind.

One if you want a quick trip to the mental hospital, here is a Pro-Tip. Sit on the side of a major highway in just your underwear and pet a dead animal like it is your best friend. 

Second, why hasn't Uno Rush come out for LIVE Arcade? They tease us with this new game like a year ago (ok more like 6 months i guess). How long can it possibly take to craft an Uno game? I mean, you already had all the foundation laid with the first one. Slap on a new coat of paint, drop in the new gimmick, and push it out to the public. Now the official write up on the Xbox home page has a date of TBD. Which means either they aren't doing it anymore and don't want to tell us. Or they have no earthly idea when it will either be done or through certification.  Well poop on you. I'll go back to shooting Nazis...

Thank you Anonymous

Mr. Anonymous that posted on my blog. I only have this to say to you, Thanks. 

You bring up a good point. I DO need an editor. I never pretended to do this on a professional level. I write posts b/c i enjoy doing so. I have a love for gaming and gaming culture.Because of that love i have taken it upon myself to write this blog. It may not be what you like, it may not be what a lot of people like, but oh well. Some people don't like Opera, some people don't like math, that's up to the individual to decide. 

If you are giving me actual constructive criticism then, thanks again. As i said before i am not a professional. I do this in my spare time, and i do it so that i have a place to keep my thoughts. Even if no one out there read a single word of any of this i would still write it. I realize that i need someone to edit my thoughts, however doing this guerrilla style isn't exactly conducive to having someone look over my stuff. I do my best to check my spelling, punctuation, and such, but i am not perfect and don't have a degree in English (which is probably painfully obvious to some).

If you just hate my blog, well then don't come back. This is the same issue that comes up with parents. They complain that their kids are watching filth on TV and Movies, and they pick up bad habits. Well the solution to that problem is simple don't let them watch it. If you don't like my blog, don't read it. Simple as that.  

So in closing, if you are an editor that would like to take on the job of helping me out (for free mind you) then let me know. If you know of a better way to get my posts edited let me know. If you don't care what my grammar is like, and just enjoy the fact that i tend to ramble sometimes let me know.

Thank you for caring.

Mirror's Edge

I am sure this is pretty much what the designers had running (no pun intended) through their collective heads when they were working on this game. 

Brush with greatness

Funny little exchange from this morning. 

8-Bit Jezo has arrived...

So since it is the Christmas season. And i just happened to be handed this link, i thought i should share. For those out there that think Christmas Carols are all to flashy and over the top. What with all the orchestral accompaniment and all, try out Doctor Octoroc and his album "8-Bit Jesus". 

Here is the actual Track list that i am currently listening to and totally enjoying. 

1. We Three Konami

2. Ryu The Red Nosed Reindeer

3. Silent Knight Man

4. Carol of the Belmonts

5. Joy to Commando

6. Deck the Kremlin

7. Little Drummer Nemo

8. The Legend of Noel

9. Super Jingle Bros.

Now these tracks aren't what you might be thinking, just the regular Xmas carols done in 8-bit sound... they are more like if Christmas was a Capcom game and starred Mega Man. It really is amazing stuff. They have brought back my love of Christmas, and i may actually like to listen to this outside of the Christmas Season. 

Here is the link to the easiest way to Download them all. Oh and it's free!

8-Bit Jesus

Sushi Big Daddy...

Just thought this was pretty cool. 

Via Shawn Elliott's Twitter.

Left 4 Dead

So i don't think this needs to be said but this game is amazing. Hey have you heard that yet from anyone out there in the gaming press... no, well let me elaborate. 

This game throws you in the shoes of one of four "survivors" after the Zombie Apocalypse has occurred. Your job is pretty simple, and the game lays it out for you right from the start, "Stay together to survive." Yeah that is pretty much it. Make it through 4 movies/missions/chapters and get rescued at the end of each. If you can keep all three of your friends alive in the process, even better.

Playing alone is fine, the bots can handle themselves, sometimes better than you can. They rarely miss and hardly ever get beat down so bad they need YOU to help them. However, you will rely on THEM quite a bit. You will be beaten, trampled, and dragged to almost certain Zombie doom over and over again, and you will love every minuet of it. 

Playing with three other friends is where this game becomes golden brown. You and your buddies take on the roles of the four zombie slayers on a mission to get the heck outta Dodge. Still you NEED to stick together. Run to far ahead, or lag to far behind, and you will be in serious trouble. Especially in the final stage of each movie when your rescue boat/plane/tank gets there and about eleventy billion zombies are all biting at your heels literally. 

Once you get tired of the story mode, you can play a versus match. This also is where the game shines. Now instead of playing as a survivor, you get to play as one of the "Special" infected. 

There is the "Smoker", who uses his extendo-tounge and drags people away from their buddies to their death. He sounds like a 3 pack a day smoker that has just run a marathon.

Then there is the "Hunter". Able to leap around, move very fast, and will pounce on unknowing civilians and attack them with lethal blows until they stop moving. Always lurking in the shadows... Sounds like someone that is having really bad night tremors. 

Next we have the "Boomer". He is just a big bloated, festering corpse. Full of god knows what, and ready to throw it up all over you. When he does yack on you, beware. The horde now smells you like a pregnant lady smells ... well anything really. Also if you get to be the unlucky one to shoot the Boomer in the wrong spot, he will explode all that foulness on you as well. This guy sounds much like every stereotypical fat man in every movie you have ever seen. 

Last but not least is the "Tank". Just like the name would suggest, he is a huge beast that is very strong and hard to take down. No need for finesse with him, just smash everything in your path until it is a bloody pulp. Moves slow, attacks slow, but packs a mean right AND left hand. He sounds like, well the Hulk™ I guess, minus the "Hulk Smash!" stuff. 

Bottom line is, this game is fun. I don't normally recommend that everyone get/play a game, however this would be the exception. This is a game not to miss. If you like first person shooters. If you enjoy horror movies, or at the very least just want to have fun with friends, get this game. I can't tell anyone to spend $60 on a game, but i think this one is worth a rent for sure. 

That strange sucking sound...

That strange sucking sound you hear, oh that's just all the good games being sucked out of the market. Welcome to the doldrums of the Holidays. 

Now is the time when most publishers and distributors just sick back and wait for the profits to roll in. They don't release any games worth a damn really anymore until spring. I have mixed feelings about this years slow period. On the one hand i want the party to never end, keep the Triple A games coming to me and i will keep buying them, or at least renting them. On the other hand i am glad that the train has finally come to a screeching halt. My wallet and calendar can't take much more of this schedule. 

I just realized that the 3 games that have been at my house from Gamefly, are the same ones that i rented at the beginning of November. After a very steady rotation of at least 2 games a week, the well has run dry. I finally have time to go back and play more of Fallout 3 and Fable 2. Oh yeah and some game on my PS3... what was it, oh yeah LittleBigPlanet. How soon we forget things when the tidal wave of media crashes on our heads, and we can't come up for air. 

I haven't written a "current" review for a game in weeks b/c i have had to much on my plate. One thing is for certain, I am ready to start taking games off my "Pile of Shame" instead of adding to it. 

Aliens are out, Ghost are in...

This is a story that i found on Joystiq, that I found quite interesting for several reasons...

In a recent interview with MTV News, Sigourney Weaver discussed her potential involvement in two upcoming ludological adaptations of hit 80s films in which she starred. Weaver claimed she turned down an offer to work on an Aliens title as she believed the digi-Ripley portrayed in-game was "not true to the character." She also explained that the resumé of the Aliensdeveloper wasn't too impressive -- one of their past titles was a game "called 'Rednecks', where you shoot animals." 

We, and, more notably, Sega (the publisher of the pair of Aliens titles about which the MTV reporter was inquiring) have absolutely no idea what she's talking about. However, her feelings towards Atari's recently acquired adaptation of Ghostbusters were crystal clear -- she's interested in joining the cast, but only if the title is "high-quality."

Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

The first one looked amazing on the Original Xbox, this one is shaping up to look even better on the 360. Another game to watch out for in the coming months/years.

Game Addiction

"What They Play" just ran a big article on video game addiciton that is well worth the read.

Here is the link to the full story. 

Watch this... Nuff Said!

Bump

So we are about 16 weeks into this thing they call "pregnancy" and nothing seems to have changed either in my life or my wife's. We still do all the things we used to do, there is no sickness, no weight gain... nothing really to prove that she is with child. 

Save one thing...

The most ever so slight "baby bump". It just showed up here recently. You have to understand my wife is six foot tall and weighs... well that wouldn't be proper, we'll just say, less than me. She has started to complain that some of her jeans are getting "snug". The first time i guess we really noticed it was when she was wearing a really nice sweater that hugged her body. There it was... the bump. I think it is rather cute, she doesn't seem to like the fact that she will soon be packing on the weight and beginning to uh... plump. But deep down i know she is absolutely ecstatic about it all. 

Other than that you would never know that my wife and i are expecting a child in the next 6 months. I am glad that the baby takes at least 9 months to develop and be born, it gives me the time to get myself prepared to change my life FOREVER. Lucky for me i have such a great circle of family and friends that either have been through this themselves or know someone that has. I can fall back on their support and know that they will lend a helping hand when need be. 

Also, I was told the other day that there would be NO PICTURES of any sort going up here or anywhere for that matter of her getting bigger and bigger. If you want to see it, you will have to see it in person. 

Old School

So I am a self professed "Old School" gamer. I grew up playing Atari 2600, and NES. I had more than my fair share of games for each, more so for the NES than anything. 

One of my favorite games of all time was Mega Man II. Actually I was always a big fan of the Mega Man series in general (up until it started to lose all cred, which was about MM4). I recently downloaded the first three Mega Man games for the Virtual Console on the Wii. They all held such fond memories for me, and i had some left over Wii Points to spend, so I figured why not.

Today i sat down and decided to take a run at Mega Man III. For the life of me i can't remember the best way to go about beating the bosses so i just started with Snake Man. Two things quickly came to my attention. 

One, the trick from back in the day where you would hold right on the second controller to do super jumps and keep you from dying in pits, it still works. 

Second, this game is hard. I don't mean hard like Mega Man 9 hard but hard like I used to go through this game no problem when i was a kid and now, I Suck!

This brings me to my point. I am getting old... yes i realize it happens to everyone, and no one is exempt. It's not that i didn't realize i was thirty, trust me, the back pain i have almost constantly reminds me. The shocker is that my skills as a gamer are slowly going away. I guess deep down i already knew they were when i regularly get my ass handed to me in COD4 and W@W. My "twitch" skills are almost non existent now. Which explains why i am just as happy to play a game like Rainbow 6 Vegas or GRAW where you can take your time and think your way through a battle. I also enjoy a good thinking mans game too, like BUZZ Quiz TV or Scene-It. It's like my brain still functions just as it always did but the time response between my head and my hands just isn't as fast anymore.

This may not seem like much to the average everyday person, but to a guy that is totally addicted to games that down right require you to be able to react with split second timing, it's a HUGE deal. I am hoping that over time, like physical therapy i can recondition my muscles to do what i want them to.

Listen to the song in my play list called "This Old Man" by MC Frontalot... it will make this post more funny, and relevant. 

Oh well such is life i guess. Now get off my damn lawn before i have to turn the hose on you!

Play the game with your Butt... seriously.

So this past weekend I got another game in the mail, this one was a request from my wife. Rayman Raving Rabbids; TV Party was the request. We enjoyed playing the first game in the series on the Wii, however the second one didn't hit on much. Actually thinking about it i can't even think of what the subtitle was for the second game, oh well. 

So the hook or the gimmick for this game is that you can use the Wii Balance Board along with the Wiimote and the Nunchuck. You don't HAVE to use it but if you do have the board you can use it with the rest. I thought it would just be really gimmicky and stupid... which i guess it could really be, but i was having to much fun to really care. 

I am not sure exactly how many minigames there are in the main game but there are more than a few. Also there are about 10 different styles of mini games as well. Some make you play music along with the TV, some make you dance, racing games, driving games, etc. 

What i will say is that this game is made for the ADD gamers out there. As you play some of the longer minigames there will be commercial interruptions that sort of take you out of the experience but are still fun. Also after each minigame there is an advertisement that will give you the chance to gain control of the "game board" for another turn. It's an interesting concept that makes you really pay attention to what is going on so that you can make the choices in the match. 

My wife and I played through a session of the game last night and really enjoyed it. We are both looking forward to the weekend when we can play a little more of it. Oh and you really can play with your butt...

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

To this day Uncharted stands as one of my favorite PS3 games. Granted there are other games out there that are just as amazing graphically and game-play wise, like MGS4, Little Big Planet, and even Ratchet and Clank. None of these seemed to suck me in as much as Drake's Fortune did the first time i played it. I couldn't set the controller down and just continued to press farther and farther into the game world until i had finished. Even now i still want to play through other sections of the game not only to discover the other artifacts that i missed, but also just to enjoy the wonderfully animated and detailed vistas in the game. 

Well recently Naughty Dog released a "teaser trailer" for the upcoming and as of yet un dated sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The trailer so far is pretty dang short and really doesn't give you any info short of the fact that Nathan is back, and there will be blood... I mean snow. Apparently they are planning on releasing another trailer or more info during the VGA's on Spike this year (December 14th at 9pm, check local listings). I can't wait to see more of this game. Rumor is that the trailer they released is rendered in real time with the in game engine. If that is to be believed then this game could look better (and probably should) than the first game. I guess we will have to wait and see on the 14th, to see if and what Naughty Dog has in store for us. I can't wait, the first game was a big reason why i got a PS3 in the first place.

Ducktales (NES)

So here is a game that you may not have thought anyone would review. I for one loved this game back in the day (and still play it every now and then on roms).

Ducktales came out on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the late 80's early 90's. Obviously based on the hit kids show of the same name. You played as Scrooge McDuck, and along with the help of your nephews, and personal pilot Launch Pad, went on adventures through several different environments to get treasure. Scrooge, as usual, is on a quest to be the richest duck in the world. 

Developed and published by Capcom this game was memorable for several different reasons. As always with Capcom the game play was very tight and precise. Scrooge carries a cane which he can use several different ways. He could use it as a weapon to hit enemies with, a tool to break rocks and such, and also as a mode of transportation, if you will, as a pogo stick that he could bounce around the stage. Also being from Capcom, the music was amazing in the game (for its time). I still listen to several different versions of the "Moon Surface" song by groups like "The Advantage", "Minibosses", and "Entertainment System". Over all it was a very easy game to get into and play over and over. 

Also this game had something very strange for the time it was released with, "Non-Linear Gameplay". You could choose which place you wanted to go to from the very beginning. Locations such as "Amazon", "Snow Mountain", "Underground" and the afore mentioned "Moon Surface". Each of these locations had vastly different terrain for you to go through, different "Boss Fights" to overcome, as well as a different treasure for Scrooge to collect.

This is one of those games that (at least in my head) should get a sequel on the current generation of systems. Not like the "Golden Axe; Beast Riders" sequal but more like the "Mega Man 9" kind. Which is pretty handy considering that Mega Man and Ducktales were both done by Capcom. However i won't hold my breath considering that Ducktales isn't really the hit show it was when i was 10 years old. Just like the Rescue Rangers game for NES... ahhh memories. 

All hope is not lost, like i said you can play it as a rom if you like. Also if you have an old NES like i do you can probably find it on ebay or something and still play it... hey wait a second. I DO still have my old NES... Ebay here I come!