Unreal Tournament 3

Since I've been almost obsessing over the release of Unreal Tournament 3 for the PS3, I thought I'd share my findings while I'm cheating in Oblivion(only recently got the PS3 version) by placing a shoe to hold the left analog stick to walk into a wall while sneaking to raise the level. haha

First being, I haven't found one source saying that there would be a demo for the PS3 before it's release. Upsetting, But I know I'm going to buy it regardless. If I read correctly, there will be a PC demo before release(which i'm keeping an eye out for). I won't say this game is going to be amazing(even though it is) because, we just don't know. I will say, It's EPIC. The people that put out Gears of War for the XBox(and PC this winter). I've been a fan of Unreal Tournament since it was released originally. In fact, I have it installed on my PC even now and was playing last night.

This installment of Unreal Tournament is looking to be a multiplayer gamers delight. But, not only multiplayer as the previous games. There is said to be a nice Single Player addition added that goes beyond just having Deathmatch, CTF, etc.. with bots. I always felt the single player was fine before because of the type of game it was, but I think it'll be a welcomed change to the UT series.

Some very nice features I noticed; Bots will be able to understand a simple set of voice commands. So, those of you with headsets(which will be next to, if not, everyone on an xbox if they're picking up a game like this.) will be able to speak to your bot teammates! I've got a headset for my PC and a bluetooth headset that came with my phone last year that I can use on my PS3. I hope to be getting a 360 in the near future now that microsoft has started useing the 65-nm chips in the consoles(uses less power so less heat produced, coupled with better cooling could finally get rid of the dreaded RRoD).

Another dissapointing thing is that there will be no UnrealED(map editor) with the PS3 version. So, for those that want to create maps and other content, you need to have the PC version for UnrealED. Good news is that the content created on a PC will be usable on the PS3!

Also, the PS3 will have USB mouse and keyboard support for those of you(like me) who are trying to make the PC to Console transition still. There isn't much word on 360 info as of yet aside from it's release date being sometime early 08 instead of a simultaneous launch with the PC and PS3 launch. So far the PS3 and PC versions are said to be expected for a November release, but there is a possibility of a delay since Epic has always had that, you either "want it right or right now" mentality. They haven't disappointed before, so when it is finally released is just fine with me.

Take a look around for yourself, watch some gameplay videos, go download the older demos and try them. If you like what you see in the videos, I promise, you will not be disappointed by this game.

For those curious about the PC requirements, I found this on the UT3 wiki. They are not the final say on specs, so they may go up, or even down by the time it launches

Minimum System Requirements:

• Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, Mac OS X v10.4, or Linux
• 2.0+ GHZ Single Core Processor
• 512 Mbytes of System RAM
• NVIDIA 6200+ or ATI Radeon 9600+ Video Card
• 8 GB of Free Hard Drive Space

Recommended System Requirements:

• 2.4+ GHZ Dual Core Processor
• 1 GBytes of System RAM
• NVIDIA 7800GTX+ or ATI x1300+ Video Card
• 8 GB of Free Hard Drive Space

So, be prepared for the next big hit from Epic. This is much faster than Gears of War, trust me.

— Will

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground Vs. Skate(demos)

Skate was released not too long ago and Tony Hawk's Proving Ground is just around the corner. Some of you may have been holding off for the next installment of the Tony Hawk series, others hopped on Skate right away.

I'll start off by saying... Skate is a complete change in feel from any other skating game any of us have ever played. The 'Flick-it' controls are amazing, but slightly limited. There are some things you're unable to do, but not many. There are a lot of flatland tricks as well as the vert handstands that you are just simply missing. While Tony Hawk's Proving Ground has these tricks, Skate just feels that much more satisfying where you may not even notice unless you're like me and you used the handstands off a vert ramp along with the 'nail-the-trick' slow motion to rack up some serious points in the competitions. =)

The fans of the Tony Hawk series will be treated to quite a few new additions to the game. The choices you make in the game effect your stats. My personal favorite would have to be the 'rigging'; Rigging allows you to set up rails, ramps and kickers wherever you please to make the gaming experience unique to your skating style. There are options to skate professionally, or just skate.. well.. to skate. The same button scheme since the first game is still being used. So, veterans of the series or even genre will be able to pick up the controller and already know how to play for the most part.

Skate, on the other hand, takes a fresh approach to the skating genre by throwing away the button scheme we've all come to know and making the game almost entirely played with the analog sticks. To Ollie, you take the right stick, pull it to the downward position and just flick it back up to the top. To kickflip, you bring the right stick down and then you go diagonally to the right, much like a real skateboard.

While it's not quite as simple to pick up on right away, it just makes it feel that much better when you can crack ollies around the place. More complicated tricks are just different movements on the right stick, plus it's all physics based. So, everything you do feels satisfying. If that's not enough realism for you; There is no more pressing a button while NEAR a rail and just latching on instantly. If you want to grind, you have to ride up toward it at a good angle and land on it, what grind you did depends on how you land on it. If you ollie to close and the board hits the rail, you fall. Yes, it's that real. On top of all of that, there is 'video editing' so you can record yourself skating, cut it, change angles, speeds, film quality and color, and upload it to the EA site for others to see!

While both of these games have their solid points about them, to me and quite a few other people I know of, Skate is definitely the way to go. They're both good games in their own ways. But the genre really needed something fresh like Skate to come along and I think I speak for a lot of people when I say "Thank you, EA!".

The decision is still yours. They're both good games.

— Will

Playstation.Blog

It seems I hit a bit of a weak spot with a comment I wrote on the Playstation blog on this weeks update. I commented twice actually. First was saying that I was glad for there to be a new shooter(Clive Barker's: Jericho). Second was a comment on how the 2.00 firmware is months later than expected.

For those who are wondering what I mean; Going by the 0.10 increments they were going in, by the time 1.90 came rolling around, it was June, an 2.00 was expected for July. Instead we got 1.91 for July, 1.92 for august, and if that wasn't enough, 1.92 did more damage than anything else, followed by 1.93 a week later to fix the screwup that was 1.92. Still... there is no 2.00.

The obviously didn't like that, so my second comment was removed. Why would they remove a comment unless it was a thorn in their sides? I've seen plenty of irrelevant comments around in the past usually not removed, so that was obviously not the reason. Just something to think about. If everyone praises them for screwing up, nothing is going to change.

Point out the legitimate flaws and maybe they will pick up the slack a little. We may not be paying up front like XBL, but we are paying quite a bit more for the small to useless add ons that in the case of even a PC, would have been free.

— Will

Official Sidekick LX Release

I have some good news and bad news. Good news is; The Sidekick LX has been officially announced on www.sidekick.com and the T-Mobile website has them up for 'Pre-Register'.

I say 'them' for a reason. There are two colors; Midnight Blue* and Espresso Brown*. Still part of the good news, the screen is larger(resolution is 400x240, not sure what previous were so I can't compare), the Myspace Mobile app will be(should be?) pre installed and the whole phone is generally lighter by a probably unnoticeable amount to most, and MMS support. The LX will be able to send and receive pictures along with text messages rather than having to do so in email. As a last new thing(to my knowledge), there are some new LEDs on the outside that flash differently depending on what type of message or alert you get.

Most of the other features are exactly the same on paper. In fact, aside from a very slight 0.2" difference in thickness, it's exactly the same size as the 3(The 3 is thinner. That's right, the LX is actually thicker than the 3, not enough to notice if you ask me.). The camera is still a 1.3mp, there is still no video play back or recording, there have been a few people to say it would have it around forums, but that was also said about the 3.

Speaking of the 3, if you haven't already noticed, this is obviously not a 4. The only thing updated about this is the screen size and the OS(DangerOS v4.4). There are only three marketing points for this phone;

1. New Sidekick customers.
2. People who are still using an older Sidekick model, like the 2, or a damaged Sidekick 3.
3. People who HAVE to have the newest phone no matter how little a difference from their last, even if it's a possible regression.

Anyway, unless you fit into one of those groups, the 3 is close enough to keep you going without feeling left out of the loop till there is a real update to the phone. But, remember, that's my opinion and nothing more. I'm sure a lot of you would agree though. And if you don't agree with me yet, i'll say now that there is a hefty price tag of $299 with a two year contract. One of the few ways you can get a hold of an LX is to make sure to go into a T-Mobile store as soon as you can to get a reservation card as the number of cards they'll have will be equal to the number of phones they receive for the day of release.

Are you still reading this? Go get your reservation cards!

*Images from Hiptop3.com

— Will

T-Mobile Sidekick LX and Slide

I've seen one of the best acts of stupidity I've seen in a while. I'll just say 'ebay auction' for now. Good news for all of you T-Mobile fans out there, the Sidekick LX is said to be on it's way. That's right, the next installment of the phone we all know and love. But if you're a sidekick fan, you already knew this for almost a week now.

The Sidekick LX has been showing up in random places for a few weeks now. The other version will be the Sidekick Slide, which seems to be an upgrade of the iD while the LX seems to be an upgrade from the 3. I don't think the specs for the LX have been released. Just from looking at pictures, the Slide is about the same size as the 3, but with a smaller screen. The LX is obviously thinner, and going by the box from an ebay auction(I'll get to that in a minute. That was the stupidity I was talking about), T-Mobile is pushing the fact that it is much thinner having a side view of it on one side of the box showing just how thin it is.

One or both of these are said to be released on October 24th. Links to the Hiptop3.com posts I got this information from will be at the end of the post. All of this information popping up so quickly is leading me to believe it's all true, but who knows, people are crafty these days. Decide for yourself. I'm not sure of the exact date T-Mobile is supposed to be starting this, (it's in the comments on the first link) there seem to be reservation cards that you can pick up from T-Mobile sellers to be kept till October 24th where you can go and give those in so you can purchase this bad boy. My guess is that they have a set amount they're sending to the stores, they know that, and to not waste peoples time having them wait in line and not get one, they're giving these out, and when they run out of those, that's all they'll be getting for the 24th. Nice of them, if i'm right. I know i'd be pissed to wait in like for all that time and find out they didn't have any more by the time I got there.

Now... ON TO THE FUN!! Another Hoptop3.com post cause my eye the other day and i've been watching since. Someone on ebay decided they were going to post a Sidekick LX up for auction. It started off at $600 and has since climbed to $3,780.60 and it still has 7 days left! First, just.... wow. If that were a real auction i'd say, "That's got to be almost 10 times what it's going to retail for a month from now." It seems like a legit auction, but if you look closer, first, nobody is that stupid, just nobody. Second, if you look at the bid history, all of the bidders have extremely similar***names(You'll understand the *** when you look at the bid history. lol). So, my guess is that it's the seller or someone else trying to jack up the price on the auction. But the description does give you some specs that sound pretty good to me.(WiFi! awesome.)

Link - Reservation Cards(October 24th release date) from Hiptop3.com
Link1 - Link2 - Info and pictures on auction from Hiptop3.com
Link - Pictures and review of the Sidekick Slide from Hiptop3.com

Edit: It is now up to $6,300. Obviously fake.. lol

— Will

Last Man Standing...

Over at the GameTrailers.com forums, Dudley and myself decided we were going to try to educate any unsuspecting fanboy we could find that decided to make an unreasonable statement.

Well... After a long, hilarious back and forth(I'd call it an argument, but we were laughing), 3 of the 4 people that decided to get in on the argument got banned(I was the one that didn't. haha). Dudley(Postern on the forum) was banned along with the initial thread creator. Another guy decided to crack a make a joke and got banned as well. We've got a screen shot of why Dudley was banned along with a reply he sent back. We've also kept the thread link for those of you who are curious enough to read. Haha

It was great. It went from the topic, to Dudley bringing up a point on topic, to the original poster being rude. So we got rude back. =)

Thread link


Enjoy. I know I did. Haha

— Will

Let's get started...

OK! Let's get this started. I didn't want to leave this blank for people to pass over and not get some idea of what was to be happening here.

I'll start by saying my name is Will. I'll be one of two people updating and posting here. What we're trying to accomplish is getting whatever news we happen to hear or see to you, but filtered, without all of the bias "Sony is better...", "Microsoft is better...", "..just because" bull you'll find in most other places.

Though the main point of this site will be about gaming systems; There will often be times we decide we're going to talk about whatever the hell we want. ;) While we'll try and remain as serious as possible when we need to, we're here to have fun. You should to.

Feel free to comment on posts and add your two cents. But, if we find any unnecessary flaming has made it's way into the comments without a valid point, it's going to be removed, and the inevitable "Why did you delete my post!?" that is sure to follow will likely be removed as well since I know people can never ask calmly.

Remember... We're here to have fun. Check your baggage before you click that bookmark link which I hope is already in your list because you plan on coming back. ;) But I warn you now, if you are offended in any way by profanity, this probably isn't the place for you.

On that note... See you next time, and until then, have a wonderful fucking day!

— Will