Every new platform needs an "It" game. Like the bleach-blond and bleach-toothed starlets who preen and pout and draw clouds of admirers like desert birds to a carcass, a triple-A powerhouse videogame will attract more fun-hungry gamers to a new console than any number of lectures on the hardware's tetrafloppys, quadumaflips or ultrabits. And even the ever-so-slightly techno-crazy Kaz Hirai can't argue with that.
We've finally cozied up to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on PS3, and, while it
Gran Turismo 3 was the first game most of us on saw running on PlayStation 2, thanks to the “GT 2000” demo that appeared alongside PS2 when it launched in Japan in March 2000. A little more than a year later wed get the final version of GT3, and boy did it ever show off PS2 to the maximum.
Even now, loading up the six-year-old PS2 game is a staggering event. Religious, even. It still has the power to shame the puny efforts being put out by other game-makers today, thanks to its
You just tore the wrapper off The Burning Crusade expansion pack, you've updated your credit card information and now you're wondering, "how the hell am I going to get to level 70? By this weekend?" Well, my socially challenged friend, we have crafted a quaint little strategy guide that'll prepare you for your first steps into darker territory. It'll be tough and you'll need all the Friday nights you can muster. But with some luck, Mountain Dew and tons of pizza, you'll pull it off in no time.
Real men play sports, drink beer, and know a thing or two about fixing cars. They don't know the difference between the starship Enterprise and Starship Troopers, and they don't fool around or play any games - at least, not ones like these.
We're talking about the sorts of games that can be landmines of embarrassment waiting to explode, ruining your image as a somewhat normal guy. Or worse yet, the ones that are so appealing to the opposite sex that you may never get your hands on your
There were still no Porsches or Ferraris, but what the hell. Gran Turismo 2 came out in December of 1999, just when the world was starting to get excited about PlayStation 2. That didnt matter though - GT2 was a staggering creation that squeezed more out of PSone than had ever seemed possible before.
The feel and system was pretty much unchanged from GT1, apart from two enhancements - the number of cars went from under 200 to well over 600, and the tracks were boosted from the mid teens to
For every Eddie Murphy there's a Chris Tucker. For every Coke there's a store-brand Cola. For every Mario, a Luigi. You get what we're talking about, right? Lurking in the shadow of every premium product, there's a low-grade, cheapo version. We're pretty sure without this good/bad, yin/yang balance the world would cease to spin on a level axis and topple into a black hole.
More than anywhere (except possibly Hollywood film actors and breakfast cereals) this applies to games. We've lost count
Ninja Gaiden: Black has been doing the critically-acclaimed rounds on Xbox for a few years now and it's still our second favorite game behind Halo. To all the people who cried "It's too hard" we'd like to say that it's not hard - you're just not playing right.
Black is making a comeback, under the moniker Ninja Gaiden: Sigma, on PS3 with more bells and whistles attached to it than we originally thought. The screens look awesome and it's one of the games we're looking forward to checking out on
By now, you know the spiel: most Hollywood executives see movie-based games as nothing more than merchandising, no different from action figures and themed socks. Therefore, they could not give a rat's ass about quality, so long as the game sells. And therefore, most movie games are crap. And blah, blah, blah.
We're not here to debate the reasons why 95% of movie games are miserable turds. We like to focus on the positive. And we know that for every 20 or so Rambos or E.T.s or Enter the
GT STATS
Released: May 1998
Cars: 178
Tracks: 15 tracks
Music: Ash, Feeder, Garbage
Average eBay price: $5.10
So, thinking about it, if you want to thank anyone for starting the whole Gran Turismo ball rolling, thank series creator Kazunori Yamauchis dad. Yamauchi senior did a lot of driving for his work, and luckily enough happened to do all his driving in a fancy Nissan Skyline. Lucky daddy. Often, little three-year-old Kazunori would go with him, spending hours in the car. Probably
A is for Ark
The Ark is a mysterious Forerunner device from which all the Halos can be activated. At the end of Halo 2, Delta Halo is armed and then unexpectedly shut down, causing it to send a superluminal signal to all other Halos in the galaxy, putting them on standby mode. 343 Guilty Spark informs Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Johnson that the Halos must now be activated from "The Ark." So, where's The Ark? Rumor has it, its location is Earth, buried under the ground near New Mombasa. When
