I think I might have found the gateway drug for getting my wife to play videogames. My wife discovered Sally`s Salon for the Nintendo DS and has been playing it non-stop It's published by Capcom and is basically a point and click...er...tap game where you manage a spa - it's all controlled via the touch-screen.
Not particularly something I would play for a prolonged period but definitely you might want to check out for any friends who are casual gamers.
In 'less-casual' gaming I've been playing the hell out of FFVII for the PSP and also Red Faction: Guerilla for the Xbox 360. The sheer amount of destruction in Red Faction is astounding and what makes the game so damn fun. Multiplayer is also a blast as all of the most fun modes revolve around environmental destruction.
One of my favourite multiplayer gaming moments happened last week - our team was pinned down as one of the opposing team had posted himself at the top of a large pillar with both the sniper rifle and rocket launcher. After a few minutes of getting killed while trying to shoot him down I remembered I was playing Red Faction and the solution was simpler - just switch to the melee sledge hammer, run up to the pillar and smash the hell out of it until it collapsed!
Great fun! Now I just have to figure out a way to get my wife to play it........
Lavan
PS Well done to the U.S. for getting to the finals of the Confederations Cup and being 2-0 up on Brazil!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
I don't read sitting on the bog anymore....
.....because I'm too busy playing videogames! Seriously, after finishing Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the DS I've turned my attention to my oft-neglected PSP with the re-release of Final Fantasy VII over PSN! Not only does FF VII look fabulous on the smaller PSP screen but I think the PSP is the way to go for playing Japanese RPGs because I don't have to worry about the annoying lack of a save-anywhere feature. Instead, I can just flick the PSP into sleep mode and then pick up where I left off later on. I'm also loving going down memory lane with FF VII, it's a fabulous game and I really enjoy the materia system.
In soccer-gaming, EDGE Magazine has FIFA 10 as their cover-story along with an in-depth interview with David Rutter and Gary Paterson who've been helming the series' amazing comeback as the premiere football title. The interview is 8 pages long and it's neat to read them acknowledge that PES/WE was by far their favourite football title prior to turning FIFA around. Just an indication of how far the once-mighty Konami has fallen.
The biggest game-specific announcements in FIFA 10 have been regarding true 360 degree movement of players. I'm excited but also a little bit nervous as to how EA Sports pull this off. Sure attacking play promises to be more fluid but I wonder what will happen to the defending and how attacker-defender interaction will be modulated.
On the FIFA 10 blog David Rutter also revealed that the new title will finally have a proper practice mode - about bloody time!
Lavan
In soccer-gaming, EDGE Magazine has FIFA 10 as their cover-story along with an in-depth interview with David Rutter and Gary Paterson who've been helming the series' amazing comeback as the premiere football title. The interview is 8 pages long and it's neat to read them acknowledge that PES/WE was by far their favourite football title prior to turning FIFA around. Just an indication of how far the once-mighty Konami has fallen.
The biggest game-specific announcements in FIFA 10 have been regarding true 360 degree movement of players. I'm excited but also a little bit nervous as to how EA Sports pull this off. Sure attacking play promises to be more fluid but I wonder what will happen to the defending and how attacker-defender interaction will be modulated.
On the FIFA 10 blog David Rutter also revealed that the new title will finally have a proper practice mode - about bloody time!
Lavan
Friday, June 12, 2009
Site Redesign, 80 Million For Ronaldo!?!?
Hi All!
Hopefully you got here via Maccas Sports Gaming Page - if not...how the hell did you get here? Regardless, the main site is undergoing a slow and painful redesign but hopefully the new layout will let me post and update more often than I was before.
Along with aesthetic and behind the scenes functional changes there will also be some content changes. Of course I`ll still be focusing on soccer gaming but I`ll also be doing non-soccer and also non-sports game reviews. Along with work, the wedding, a buying a home, and general laziness another reason I wasn`t updating as much was due to a bunch of non-sports games that were occupying my time. I hope to add short reviews and impressions of non-sports games that tickle my fancy.
One of those non-sports games that I`ve been playing more recently has been Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS. I actually just completed the main story part of the game today and from start to finish I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with this game. Everything from the presentation to the story to the unique (but not overdone) use of stylus controls was top notch. Most amazing is that Rockstar Leeds managed to cram in almost all of GTA IV's Liberty City right into the game! With the exception of Alderney/New Jersey all of Liberty City is represented, block for block, accurate to the 3D next-gen game.
The game itself uses a 2/3rds top down view with some quasi-cell shaded graphics which work wonderfully well on the DS and despite the traffic and pedestrians the action hardly ever slows down. The missions resolve around the GTA stable of driving and shooting but there's a great variety and the three final 'boss' missions are a blast. There`s no voice work but the story unfolds in 2D comic-book style static cut-scenes and the main character Huang Lee has a some great one-liners.
The game controls via the D-Pad, shoulder buttons (for lock-on) and the four face buttons but the use of the stylus is unique and varied - having you do activities ranging from hot-wiring a car, to assembling a sniper rifle, to arming/disarming a bomb!
If you have a Nintendo DS I wholeheartedly recommend this excellent title - the single player clocks in at about 7 hours but there are lots of other mini-games and activities that you can still play even after the story is done.
Well that's all for today. Hope you followed E3 last week - while there were a ton of exciting titles on display I'm always dismayed by the fact that sports gaming (with the exception of racing games) never makes a big splash in LA. That said, there were some FIFA 10 tidbits.....360 degree dribbling, anyone?
:)
Lavan
Hopefully you got here via Maccas Sports Gaming Page - if not...how the hell did you get here? Regardless, the main site is undergoing a slow and painful redesign but hopefully the new layout will let me post and update more often than I was before.
Along with aesthetic and behind the scenes functional changes there will also be some content changes. Of course I`ll still be focusing on soccer gaming but I`ll also be doing non-soccer and also non-sports game reviews. Along with work, the wedding, a buying a home, and general laziness another reason I wasn`t updating as much was due to a bunch of non-sports games that were occupying my time. I hope to add short reviews and impressions of non-sports games that tickle my fancy.
One of those non-sports games that I`ve been playing more recently has been Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS. I actually just completed the main story part of the game today and from start to finish I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with this game. Everything from the presentation to the story to the unique (but not overdone) use of stylus controls was top notch. Most amazing is that Rockstar Leeds managed to cram in almost all of GTA IV's Liberty City right into the game! With the exception of Alderney/New Jersey all of Liberty City is represented, block for block, accurate to the 3D next-gen game.
The game itself uses a 2/3rds top down view with some quasi-cell shaded graphics which work wonderfully well on the DS and despite the traffic and pedestrians the action hardly ever slows down. The missions resolve around the GTA stable of driving and shooting but there's a great variety and the three final 'boss' missions are a blast. There`s no voice work but the story unfolds in 2D comic-book style static cut-scenes and the main character Huang Lee has a some great one-liners.
The game controls via the D-Pad, shoulder buttons (for lock-on) and the four face buttons but the use of the stylus is unique and varied - having you do activities ranging from hot-wiring a car, to assembling a sniper rifle, to arming/disarming a bomb!
If you have a Nintendo DS I wholeheartedly recommend this excellent title - the single player clocks in at about 7 hours but there are lots of other mini-games and activities that you can still play even after the story is done.
Well that's all for today. Hope you followed E3 last week - while there were a ton of exciting titles on display I'm always dismayed by the fact that sports gaming (with the exception of racing games) never makes a big splash in LA. That said, there were some FIFA 10 tidbits.....360 degree dribbling, anyone?
:)
Lavan
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Kaka belongs to Jesus....and Real Madrid
I guess a more appropriate title for my first post in ages should have addressed the fact I haven't posted or reviewed on the site in many months. The following are my (lame) excuses;
- Work
- Got married
- Work
- I am lame
- Non-sports gaming
- Laziness
As you can see pretty much none of those excuses hold water so I'll stop now.
Anyway, I've decided to add an actual blogger feed so even if I can't post reviews as quickly as I want to (currently I'm moving at glacial speed) I can still write some random musings.
I'll stop now as I have to check if this feed actually works on the webpage.
Lavan
- Work
- Got married
- Work
- I am lame
- Non-sports gaming
- Laziness
As you can see pretty much none of those excuses hold water so I'll stop now.
Anyway, I've decided to add an actual blogger feed so even if I can't post reviews as quickly as I want to (currently I'm moving at glacial speed) I can still write some random musings.
I'll stop now as I have to check if this feed actually works on the webpage.
Lavan
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