Well it’s been rumoured for a few days now but today, it was confirmed by Konami that the controversial Six Days in Fallujah, has been dropped by the company just around three weeks after announcing the game. Is it honestly surprising, given the amount of anger it received from the “public”? Not really, but it’s still a shame to see that Konami doesn’t have the balls to give this game a release. I mean, it’s perfectly fine to recreate the horrors of World War 2 over and over again, killing Nazi after Nazi and Japanese after Japanese. It’s also alright to repeat the horrible Vietnam War as well as the first Gulf War, but as soon as someone tries to make a game based off a still ongoing war, OH NO THIS IS WAR PROFITEERING AND DISGRACEFUL, BAN THIS SICK FILTH! I mean honestly, if this game was just doing it for the sake of it in an ongoing war, then maybe those points would be more valid but this game was backed by 40 US Soldiers who actually fought in the battle and was meant to educate rather than just let you mindlessly kill.  I mean the game could suck, but it’s still worth giving it a chance if it can actually give us a new way of informing people of humanity’s darkest moments. There’s also the valid argument of course of if this was a movie or a book then it would be perfectly fine to make it, but as soon as it’s a video game then it’s suddenly despicable. The story isn’t over yet though as the game could still be picked up by a different publisher. If it is, then let’s hope that they’ve actually got some backbone, because it doesn’t look like Konami does.

Source: Gamasutra

One of the examples I gave in my article about hype a few weeks back was the huge backlash that GTA 4 got after the game finally came out with nearly a year of hype behind it as well as having the challenge of living up to the critically acclaimed GTA: San Andreas. It seems that after all of the build up, people were reasonably disappointed for various reasons. Fast Forward to April 2009 it’s already been a year since the game was released into the wild. Now that any hype is gone it’s time to see if GTA 4 really deserving is of this backlash. So I have decided to investigate the 5 biggest arguments made against GTA 4 and see whether the game really did failed to live up to the hype. Will I be able to give the arguments against the game a rebuttal or will I have no choice but to see that the game really was a disappointment?

It’s new comic book day today! Or tomorrow if you’re in the UK like yours truly for a full list of titles shipping this week check out the official Diamond shipping list but for now here’s my pick of comics for the week:

Original Release: 1 November 2007

Watched: 27 April 2009

The Darjeeling Limited was released in November 2007 and co-written and directed by Wes Anderson. The film tells the story of three estranged brothers Francis, Peter and Jack Whitman (played by Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody and Jason Schwartzman) who go on a spiritual journey through India together on the train The Darjeeling Limited, one year after the death of their father.

Things seem to be going well for the living dead right now. The threat of Swine Flu is rising, which could still turn out to be a zombie virus (if it is, I’ve called it), 28 Months Later was pretty much confirmed this month and now in one day we’ve gotten trailers for both Dead Rising 2 and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. Dead Rising 2 is the more exciting of two, showing off all of the new fun and returning weapons we can use against the zombies as well as the various locals of Las Vegas. We also get a better look at the character, who apparently is your typical American who also happens to be handy with a variety of weapons. Finally, a motorbike with two chainsaws attached. Bruce Campbell would be proud.  Darkside Chronicles on the other hand looks to be just as good as Umbrella Chronicles was, which was a fun but short title. Even so it’s still a kick in the teeth to those, me included or would have prefered an RE2 remake. It’s only made worse by this trailer which shows plenty of the characters and locations, all jacked up in the graphics department. The camera has changed a bit and other improvements can be seen but it still remains whether the game will be worth it if it only consists of RE2 and RE:CV scenarios Still it’s satisfied our hunger for zombies…at least for now.

I was out at Target doing some shopping the other day when I ran across something that honestly made me do a double-take. There sitting on the shelf of baby foods was a glass jar of ham…ham baby food. Less disturbing was the roast chicken next to it, but I really couldn’t believe my eyes that here I was staring at a friggin JAR of Ham.

Will Wright is an awesome developer. Killing Nazis is generally awesome. Mr.T is awesome.  So what do you get when you make a game with all those involved? Something that will either be epicly good or bad. But I shit you not, this game is being made.  Announced today by ZootFly, this game will feature Mr.T taking on Nazis in South America. As well as Mr.T’s other friends from the graphic novel this game is apparently based off, none other than Will Wright will appear as a kidnapped scientist forced to work on the Nazi’s diabolical scheme. In the end Mr.T and Will Wright will join forces to stop The Third Reich. The idea of this game is just epic, but of course it’s doubtful that it will end up being any good. After doing some “research”, I found out that ZootFly is an indie developer who haven’t made any games that I’ve heard of and that Mr.T indeed had a graphic novel which was published by Mohawk Media last year, which might I add is a very epic company name. No announced platforms yet, but it’ll be definitely be worth keeping an eye on this, if for the lulz more than anything. Finally, the source mentions that it is the first game, so maybe we’ll get episodic content of Nazi killing Mr.T and Will Wright adventures?

source: VG247

If you love me, I’ll love you back

You might remember that one of my first posts on MWN was an impressions post for the Red Faction: Guerrilla beta that was taking place at the time. At the time I thought It had potential but it still had a bit to go. Well the game has been worked on since then and so we come to April, where myTHQ users could sign up for free and get the new single player Red Faction: Guerrilla demo for free. Being the loyal, hard working myTHQ member I am, I quickly took that offer and have now been playing the demo for about a week before everyone else got it yesterday. So how does it compare with the beta I’ve played?

Well first off if you’re looking for story then you’re not in the right place at all. Red Faction: Guerrilla may be brainless action, but it’s fun brainless action. So the story is pretty simple. Basically you’re on Mars and part of the Red Faction, a rebel group who is trying to start a revolution against the cliche evil EDF (Earth Defence Force?). We are never told why they’re evil, but they are so they’re the enemy. You also have the help of the miners, who are sick of the EDF’s oppression but are too scared it seems to have their own revolution so it’s up to you and your fellow dirty commies to help them go Viva La Revolution on the EDF’s arses.

If you didn’t already know, yesterday was the 25th anniversary of twice hit sensations the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and to celebrate 25 years of pizzas, mutants and footclans, it seems that a reboot set for 2011 has been announced. What is interesting however is what co creator and executive producer of the new film, Peter Laird said. Speaking to Variety, he mentions that “the film will remain true to the spirit of the original comicbooks.” Now, the original TMNT comic books were pretty dark in comparison to the more commonly remembered 80s cartoon series and the 3 live action films.  This gives the impression of a risky move as TMNT has always been aimed more at children than at adults, which could been seen especially with the disappointing TMNT back in 2007. Wasn’t that meant to a reboot too?

What is even more interesting though is that it’s going to be a live action film. Yes that’s right, in today’s world of CGI overkill, a mutant about 4 giant turtles is going to be live action. While many comic book movies are live action, most of them use CGI if it’s something not human. That being said the article does mention that the film may employ face replacement technology for the turtles, so there will be some CGI. However it makes me wonder whether this film will actually be geared towards children or the fans. I mean, the turtles looked good in the old live action films, but are modern day youngsters going to be as easily impressed when they’re constantly surrounded by CGI film after CGI film?  It would be wrong to have too much faith in this film right now, as the turtles have been on a downward spiral ever since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, but it’s still certainly something to be curious about. Fans have a while to wait though as the film isn’t planned to be released until 2011.

(PS: Reboots seem to be quite the rage lately) (PSS: Source was Variety)

Hello there faithful readers! You know I was pondering to myself the other day about the upcoming X Men Origins: Wolverine when I realised that I hadn’t watched last year’s double attack of Marvel movies Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Okay not really but I still hadn’t watched either, so I thought it was about time I did. I’m no comic book fan by any means but I’ve got no problem with MOST superhero movies, so I thought I’d give these both a try since they seemed to do alright for themselves, what with both of them having sequels in the works. Besides, The Incredible Hulk couldn’t be any worse than Hulk. Anyway, time to put these two to the test.

Now I’m imagining that like me, not everyone will be coming into these movies being a comic book fan, so here’s a basic summary of what both movies are about. Iron Man is about a rich millionaire named Tony Stark who, after being kidnapped by terrorists and nearly killed, decides that he’s finally found his purpose in the world which is to fight crime. He uses his money to aid him in this by creating an ultra powerful suit. On the other hand The Incredible Hulk is about former scientist Bruce Banner who is in hiding trying to keep his temper because otherwise he turns in a green giant called The Hulk, created in him after an experiment gone wrong. However, a top army official wants to use the DNA inside Bruce to create supersoldiers. That’s the basic idea anyway. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move on.

I thought both of these movies were pretty enjoyable. They didn’t do anything that broke the mould but they weren’t trying to, both just did a great job of what they do – be an action packed, fun filled movie with superheroes and villains. Iron Man starts off quite slow but once Tony Stark actually builds the first Iron Man suit it’s a fun filled ride from there on. The characters are developed well with both a good villain and an actual proper strong female role for once, who doesn’t actually get kidnapped.  The story is good enough, the CGI is good and it’s all around a pretty cool movie. And they play Black Sabbath’s Iron Man at the end, so nuff said.

The Incredible Hulk is also a pretty cool movie, although I don’t think it’s as good as Iron Man. It’s a bit more serious than the former film, if a movie about a big green giant can be serious and delves more into the fight Bruce Banner faces rather than The Hulk. That being said the movie does set it up at the end for The Hulk to be the main focus, so here’s hoping we get more green giant action in the sequel. I also thought that the ending was a little flat and that the CGI for The Hulk looked a little strange but all in all it’s still an enjoyable movie, still boasting plenty of action and likeable characters. It also has a cameo from the TV Hulk which was pretty cool and even the sad music from the same TV show. (“Famously” parodied on Family Guy)

I’d recommend watching both of these movies, especially since they’re pretty cheap now. They’re fun popcorn films and the promise of sequels for both movies as well as crossovers as seen in both movies, which has helped to set up a Marvel universe in films, which is pretty great in it’s own right. Sorry for the short review, but I’m more brief with media like films.

It’s a common argument in gaming culture of whether the Guitar Hero franchise is better of whether the Rock Band franchise is. Personally, I think Rock Band is the better franchise by far and many people would agree with me but may also disagree. Whatever your favourite is, everyone can agree that both franchises have become immensely popular, even comparable to the stupidly crazy popularity of Nintendo’s Wii and DS. However while this may be the case in America, it’s a very different story in the rest of the world. I don’t know what it’s like for Australia (bad I’d imagine) or Japan but here in Europe the Guitar Hero franchise has, to put it bluntly, kicked the Rock Band franchise in the balls. So why is this? Why is it that a franchise that is virtually the same as it’s rival do just as well in the USA but not in Europe?

When WWE Legends Of Wrestlemania was first announced back at E3 2008, I was mildly curious about the game. After all I used to be a big fan of Wrestling in the late 90s and early 00s and I subsequently played the various WWF/E games that came out over said time, stopping due to not knowing most of the roster anymore, little improvements and the controls becoming way too complicated for a game that’s about two or more men groping each other in various positions. However because of this I didn’t pay too much attention as I just assumed that the game would use the controls and engine from the most recent WWE Smackdown vs Raw and ECW game. It also didn’t get virtually any press at all during most of 2008. However all this would change when New York Comic-Con 2009 came around the game was demoed. It showed much simpler controls than those seen in the last WWE wrestling game and so my interest in the game rose. On the other hand it showed what looked like various QTEs, which worried me. Finally the demo made it’s way to us peasants and almost of my worries were gone as the demo proved to be a fun time, made even better by the fact that for the first time in years, I actually knew everyone on the roster. I still had one worry though that the game would get repetitive. Well the game’s been out for just about a month now and now that I’ve had a few weeks to play it, I’m finally ready to review this. Is this game an underlooked hit or is it just trying to hide under rose-tinted glasses? Hit the jump to find out what I think about WWE Legends Of Wrestlemania.

Back with no vengeance. Tonight’s topics

- MINATURE REPLICA SOLDIER!
- I’m lazy but that won’t stop you burning my house down in anger
- Articles, and a few of them
- Sonic Unleashed has gone to hell
- The Hype Twins
- Grand Theft Auto during wars in Chinatown

And many many more…. (I use that phrase lightly)

Enjoy this weeks set of timewasters.