Earl’s Blog: Part 3

Ever wonder what would happen if Halo and other classic games combined? Wonder no longer.

A lot of people (like Nolanator) seem to focus on just the movies in the summer, however they aren’t the only explosion of greatness this time of year. Many times in the past, there have been “Summer Gaming Droughts”, but this year looks to be Gaming’s best summer ever. Here’s a list of video games coming out in the next few months.

• We Ski-Use your Miis and the Wii Balance Board to ski across the mountains. (Wait, why is this coming out before the Wii Board comes out?)-May 13
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian-If you really like the movie, now you can play the game.-May 15 (360, PS3, PS2, DS, Wii)
• Wii Fit-Use the newest peripheral for the Wii to balance your way through fitness mini games-May 21
• Haze-A trippy FPS from the makers of timesplitters.-May 20 (PS3)
• Singstar-Get your sing on.-May 20 (PS3)
• The Bourne Conspiracy-Follow Jason Bourne in his own video game adventure.-June 3 (360, PS3)
• Ninja Gaiden 2-Ryu Hayabusa is back for more super-gory action in this ninja actionfest.-June 3 (360)
• The Incredible Hulk-Based on the new movie, the Hulk rips through more cities. USA, USA.-June 5 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, DS, PC)
• GRID-This realistic racer takes you to numerous competitions around the world.-June 3 (360, PS3, DS, PC)
• Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures-Created by the geniuses behind Lego Star Wars, the newest Lego game takes you across the original three Indy movies.-June 3 (Wii, PS3, PS2, 360, PC, DS, PSP)
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots-The newest and possibly last Metal Gear Solid game is finally about to hit stores after much delay.-June 12 (PS3)
• Don King’s Prizefighter-Don King is taking a stab at video games by making a boxing simulator, taking you beyond the ring.-June 10 (360)
• Nascar 09-Yeeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaawwwwwww. That’s all I’m gonna say.-June 10 (PS3, 360, PS2)
• Secret Agent Clank-The second installment of the Ratchet and Clank series on the PSP, Clank has to use his espionage skills to rescue Ratchet.-June 17
• Rock Band-This highly popular (or at least in my school) rhythm game is heading for the Wii-June 22
• Battlefield: Bad Company-This newest and long-delayed Battlefield installment puts you in charge of a revenge-motivated group of soldiers.-June 23 (360, PS3)
• Guitar Hero: On Tour-The first installment of the Guitar Hero franchise on the DS.-June 22 
• Alone in the Dark-Use every weapon on your person to challenge conspiracies.-June 24 (Wii, 360, PS3, PC)
• Guitar Hero: Aerosmith-One of the soon to come Guitar Hero 3 expansions which follows the adventures and stylings of the band led by the one and only Steven Tyler.-June 29 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2)
• Hei$t-Lead a renegade mob in 1969. (360, PS3, PC)
• NCAA Football 2009-Do you really need a description?-July 15 (360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP)
• Soulcalibur IV-Battle with classic SoulCalibur characters with Yoda and Darth Vader.-July 29 (360, PS3)
• Highlander-Play as an invincible man.-Q3 2008 (360, PS3, PC)
• Madden NFL 2009-Football-August 12, 2008 (360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS, PSP)
• Too Human-A futuristic battle between cybernetic Norse Gods. (360)

Many of you into gaming should be familiar with gaming delays. These are, of course, delays that occur when the “supposed date” isn’t the “right date” and the game gets pushed off another month or so. This has got to be one of my biggest pet peeves in gaming. James, I know you’re gonna jump down my throat with this, but it’s worth stating. I have no problem with a developer saying “We’ll have it in 2 or 3 years”, but when you say “We’ll have it in a year!” I expect it in a year. I don’t expect you to day 1 year and then delay it over and over and over and over until I don’t care about it any longer. It may be a little bug before the launch that needs a month to fix, but delaying a game 5 times for “little bugs”, no, I don’t think so. It’s a matter of getting gamers hopes up cough *Brawl* cough, and then delaying it 6 or 7 times, your hopes get tired, and those of you who know me/go to school with me know I get my hopes up a lot. It just hurts getting your hopes up every potential date for something that never comes. I work on the school paper , and when we say a date, we mean it, it comes out on that day. Developers, when you schedule a game for release, do everything in your power to make that release, don’t disappoint the gaming public. I know you want the best quality, just don’t give us false hope.

Reggie Fils-Aime stood upon a stage back in July of last year, all eyes on him. He stood upon that stage, full of charisma and power, and confirmed that the next installment in the Mariokart franchise would be coming to store shelves soon. Now, most of you reading this might not know who Mr. Fils-Aime is. Mr. Fils-Aime is the American Head of Nintendo, and is a big head (ha, you see he actually does have a big head) of the gaming industry. The basic concept of the game is simple. You pick one of many characters from the Mario universe, you pick from a variety of karts, and then you race. During the race there are multiple power-ups, attacks, and the like to gain and use against your opponents. The idea is pretty simple, but in use it can become very chaotic and fun, one of the trademarks and great things about this game. This is the first installment on the Wii, and thus it enables you to use the Wiimote to control your racer. Conveniently the game comes with a wheel you can plug your Wiimote into. The wheel feels really sturdy, not flimsy or too light, but like a wheel. However, as with some of Nintendo’s earlier and bigger games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the game offers you the option of using the GameCube controller. Basically, if you preferred using the Wiimote in Brawl, you’ll probably wanna use it here. Both methods work fine; I however like the feel of using the wheel packaged in. The graphics in the game are really the only down point in the game. The graphics on certain characters are a little pixel-y sometimes; they just didn’t look quite finished, not quite polished as Brawl was. That and sometimes your enemies attacks/rubberband effect can be a little annoying, sometimes overwhelming. This series is also known for frantic fun with multiplayer as well, and this iteration is no different It offers support including 2-4 players, or you can join races online and race friends across the world, that is if you have friends in other continents. The game just really succeeds at being fun; it provides a great fun atmosphere that makes for a great time. I personally had a blast with this game, and if you’re looking for a fun, simplistic racer on the Wii, this is definitely a good choice.

4 out of 5

This is a parody Conan O’ Brian actually did last night of GTA, showing a tamer, more calmer side.

Here is the trailer for the upcoming Guitar Hero Expansion, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, which releases in June. I hopefully plan on picking this one up.

I know, the title’s pretty lame, but I can’t really think of a better way to express my…Shock, disappointment, and outrage at the gaming media for Grand Theft Auto 4’s perfect scores across the board. Even Gamespot, notoriously tough-to-perfect critic, gave the game the site’s 5th 10 ever. The game might really be that good, I’ve just never been a fan of the series, and I guess I’m biased. However, a game that shoots down cops and pulls over prostitutes for “business” just doesn’t seem like it could be a perfect game, beating out great titles like Twilight Princess and Ratchet and Clank 3, both of which I think deserve perfect scores from all gaming reviewers. (However, both did receive a 10 from Game Informer.) 

For all of you fellow Resistance nerds out there, here is the teasing teaser trailer for the sequel, Resistance 2, set for release this Fall. 

The other trailer for all of you fellow Heroes nerds is Pathology, a autopsy thriller starring Peter Petrelli himself.

As you (James) may already know, Star Wars: THe Force Unleashed will be coming to the Wii with some exclusive motion sensing abilities, which totally make up for it not having the shiny graphics or new technology, I just wanna use motion sensing with a lightsaber. However, you may not know that the Wii Version supports multiplayer, a versus Street Fighter aspect if you will, just with lighsabers. Look out Super Smash Bros.!

Here are a trio of great videos from what I like to call the Web.

After the destruction of the Empire, the Emperor didn’t die, but he instead had to go find a new job. This chronicles his job hunting…skills?

The next is a very serious doctor confrontation with a man about his mother’s obesity. 

The third and final is the teaser trailer for Sonic Unleashed. Kinda showing off the werewolf side of Sonic, the second is gameplay trailer.