Letter from the Editor - Willy105
Hey kids!
My username is Willy105. I am what you guys here call a "senior citizen" of System Wars. I have been here for about four or five years, and it's great to see so many new faces around here. In fact, I barely see anybody from the days when I was a new face. But either way, I am proud for you kids to look up to me.
You guys do look up to me, right?
Anyway, this week is E3. That stands for Electronic Entertaiment Expo, kids. It's the biggest event in the industry. Just like last year, we at System Wars Monthly will be covering the event LIVE from here! What will the big three do next? Tune in to this thread everyday this week to find out! And don't be afraid of my old age. I am one of you. I think.
Look out! Live from E3 2009.......THIS IS SYSTEM WARS MONTHLY!
To go straight to our E3 coverage, click here!
Weather Report - Tsug_Ze_Wind
Hello SW! I'm Tsug_Ze_Wind, and I'll be your weathersheep.
May has come and will soon be gone, and apparently the month of April just didn't exist. Oh well. We really didn't miss much. As we all know, May is the month of E3 predictions, the most popular one being "Is E3 going to suck yet again this year?" Of course, the fools in SW refuse to entertain that possibility, parading around the board shouting "OMG E3 is gonna ROCK!!!"
But I'm just as much of a fool as the rest of you, so on with the forecast! But first...
--Congrats cows, you've got another AAA! And it's actually one you didn't hype AAAA! Enjoy inFAMOUS. But please, just stop watching that year-old TrICO vid before you hurt yourself and/or I hurt you.
--Facing a drought, the lemmings look to an old standby: MGS4 rumors. I'm finding the ZuneX rumors pretty interesting, myself, but the lemmings don't seem to be onboard yet. I guess they spent too much time wishing for a long shot already.
--Some fascinating damage control has spawned from the sheep's recent AA streak. Are AAs irrelevant now? Do revivals of 20-year old games not count as new games?? Do these games not even count as games in the Wii's library, which according to some, is still completely empty??? :o Now you see why we play sales; this stuff is confusing.
--Hermits are still trapped in an endless cycle: A mysterious poster brings up Crysis, which leads to Crysis bashing, which leads to Crysis defending, which leads to confusion about who mentioned the game in the first place. And repeat. Someone save the hermits/Save everyone else from the hermits!
That was the news, and now here's your special E3 forecast:
____________________
Cows are expecting big things, but I'm not sure why. They should have learned from sheep last year: You can't have an awesome Q1 and a good E3. Expect footage of games we've known about for years, perhaps a new weird little IP, and of course, a new TrICO vid that will tide the cows over for the next ten years or so.
Microsoft's PR is making epic claims for this E3, so big that nothing short of virtual reality will save their show from being disappointing to someone who actually takes those PR statements seriously. Expect a new Xbox Live update, mayhaps a new IP, no MGS4, and...ZuneX?
Nintendo has to show up this time, and for most people, that means Zelda. For me, that means PIKMIN FRIGGIN' 3! The only Zelda game I see being shown is Spirit Tracks. The show will belong to Motion+, with new Wii Series games and a "hardcore" IP or franchise using it.
As for a megaton, it could come from any of 'em.
____________________
Until next time, Duke Nukem Forever--I Still Believe!
--Tsug
Cheap Games - Darkspineslayer
Times are tough now (but you already knew that) and most of us are tightening our belts and saving some cash in this global economic downturn. what does this mean for gamers? not much from a relece standpoint as were still getting as many big name new releces as ever. but the problem is affording them all. instead of selling bodily fluids, let SWM be your guide to cheap or free alternitives to get your gaming fix.
1. Guitar Hero 3/Areosmith
Alright, lets get this out of the way I realise there is a big difference. and yes, this game does lack the Drums, and mic of its big brother and attractive cousion, but when the edition that comes with 2 controlers will only run you just over $80, is it not worth taking a look at? a better option for solo rockers with a decent PC in the Guitar hero 3/Areosmith bundle for the same price as getting a single new game.
Merits include:
one of the best track lists in recent memory
Icons Tom morrello and Slash as boss and playable charecters
The Metal, Enough said
Demerits include:
lacking some of the major new additions introduced in the next installment
Wii version lacking DLC
Retro Wars! - Willy105
Looking Back at the Fall of the PSP - Willy105
For the first time since Sega deployed their Game Gear to the market in the very early 90's, Nintendo was going to have a real competitor in the handheld market.
Nintendo was quite literally the king in the market, with the Game Boy dominating the world and becoming the most succesfull line of videogame systems ever released. Tons of other companies have tried to enter their kingdom, like Neo Geo with their Pocket, Tiger Electronics with their Game.com, and even Atari with their Nomad. But each have been met with total failure. They just didn't get enough attention.
Sony, the second company ever to make a system that could compete with Nintendo's offering, and the first one to actually surpass them in the market, was determined to take the handheld market as well. To do this, Sony had to reinvent what gamers thought a portable machine could do.
Nintendo had made a tradition of making their handhelds with power similiar to the home console that preceded their console currently in the market. Sony wanted to make their handheld AS POWERFUL as their home console. It would have to be an engineering miracle, but they managed to do it pretty close.
Their PSP was not a portable PS1. It was a portable PS2.
That alone was all that needed to steal the show at E3 2004.
"Sony is going to beat Nintendo at their own game...again!"
"I think we may have seen the end of the reign of the Game Boy."
"The PSP will be what Nintendo failed to deliver all these years. A current gen experience in your pocket."
Sony was on a roll. Just look at their competition. Nintendo unveiled their next-gen handheld at the same show, and it turned out to be the Nintendo DS, a brick with two screens with midi sound that was graphically less powerful than the N64, almost down to PS1 levels. All Sony had to do is put them side by side.
The PS1 port of Ridge Racer on the DS, vs. the new Ridge Racer developed for the PSP with PS2 graphics.
A graphical difference of one generation. It was no contest.
Not only that, Nintendo kept preaching their same philosophy they have been repeating since the days of the NES, gameplay over graphics. Gamers did not want that anymore. Why stay with a weak little handheld with an unproven gimmick that only plays games limited by dated 3D graphics when they could have a handheld that played "real" games, along with videos, music, photos, and even an internet browser?
Sony was on a roll.
All they had to do at launch was put out a spec sheet, and the kids bought it like swine flu medicine. It was now cool at school, in the streets, and everywhere else to have a PSP in your pocket. The PSP was also very good looking itself, sporting a black chrome finish in a slick futuristic design, compared to the DS, which was a fat X-Wing without wings. You must have been insane to have a DS instead of a PSP.
So what happened?
The PSP's main attraction killed it. During the first few years, the PSP was getting exact ports of PS2 games, and people loved it. The PSP versions of the games were the ones people wanted. But the novelty soon wore off. That was all the PSP was getting. Very few original games appeared on the systems. Meanwhile, the DS was getting exclusive after exclusive after exclusive, many of which were actual AAA games that you couldn't play anywhere else because of it's "gimmick".
With nothing new to fall back upon, the PSP went into obscurity in the US, with fewer and fewer games coming out, sales going down, and general interest about the console made it a rare topic in System Wars.
However, in Japan, the PSP is still a healthoy competitor to the DS. Everybody in Japan already having a DS means the PSP is looking like a worthy alternative. And Square Enix's undying support for the handheld (although it is slowing down), has kept game sales for the system on par with any other home console. And Sony would not just let a system die out, and for the first time in years, they are pledging to provide more first party game support for the system this year with Motorstorm and others!
If you have a PSP, don't panic. It's not a waste of money yet.
Fable 2: A second opinion - Darkspineslayer
Fable 2 is the latest effort from Lionhead studios, and recedent punching bag Peter Monelux. a lot of promises were made with the last fable and ultimatly not many came to fruition. this time Peter was relitivly quiet about it. you might remember some issues back when Fable 2 got beaten, mauled and pounded into submission by a fellow writer. this is a rebuttle of sorts, my thoughts on the game. while i cannot begin to see where my fellow writer was coming from, the game however does have its flaws....
The game begins with you as a young (wo)man living on the streets of olde bowerstone with your sister. some cheesy dialouge about living in a castle that almost sounds ripped from disneys aladin later and a commotion catches your attention, a wandering trader is offering many artifacts from the old kingdom seen in Fable. and so you go earn 5 gold pieces to buy a music box... the story mirrors that seen in fable, tragedy befalls you, you become mortaly wounded and spend the next 10 years healing up to go on an "epic" quest for vengance. its nothing you haven't seen before, and its not helped by the horrible voice acting and cliched story either. any of the charecters other than the main ones are copyed and pasted endlessly across albion with different names, making it more than likely that you will run into several of a single potential wife/husband as forgivable as this is due to the massive scale of albions population, you can't help but be disapointed. the one thing that does actualy tie you to the game world is your ever faithful dog...a noticable feeling of desolation is felt during the times your dog dosen't want to leap off a cliff and finds another way down.
the actual gameplay is much more fun. your combat abilitys are basicly assigned to three buttons, X for melee, Y for range and B for magic. the combat has been improved for the better in fable 2, with the removal of a mana bar and more flowing combat making the system on a whole more fun.
So on a whole, is Fable 2 worth your cash? not all of it for sure. with the short quest and little reason to come back afterwards fable 2 is a rental at best, but all in all worth a playthrough
Writen by Darkspineslayer
GTA IV: Lost and Damned Review - Jethrovegas
Hello gentlemen. Thought I'd mix up the typical review structure a bit this month.
GTA IV: LOST AND DAMNED
I'm going to tell you a story.
Once upon a time, there was a cat named Andre, the youngest of three brothers. Andre was born incredibly ugly, like his three brothers, and, again, like his brothers, he was cursed with several severe mental deficiencies, and would occasionally have violent seizures and **** all over the carpet.
One would think that Andre would end up living a very difficult, unfulfilling life because of these issues, but that was not the case.
You see, though you mightn't be able to tell from looking at him, or even from interacting with him in short spurts, Andre was actually incredibly fun to be around.
He was spontaneous, and mischievous, and occasionally quite clever (for a cat, anyway).
For these qualities, Andre was well received by almost every human and animal he came into contact with (this was also very true for his older brother Vince, who many would pick as their favorite, if only for his excellent taste), and was frequently referred to by those who knew him well as "the life of the party".
So, Andre lived, and he prospered, and one day he met a lovely girl cat who possessed many of the qualities that Andre lacked, so he ****ed her, and 60 days later she bore him a single kitten whom they decided to name "Vier".
The mother cat died in an auto accident shortly thereafter, and Andre was forced to raise Vier by himself.
After just a few weeks, it became apparent that Vier could not be any more different from his father. He was reasonably attractive, his mind was razor sharp, and he moved quickly and deftly (you might say he had excellent core mechanics).
At first, Andre and his friends were overjoyed. It seemed to them as though Vier had finally overcome the issues that had plagued the family for so long.
Unfortunately, this was just a temporary illusion. As time wore on, everyone slowly began to realise that Vier had just taken Andre's problems and replaced them with new ones.
Sure, he was pretty to look at, but he was also boring, predictable, pretentious, conceited, and obsessed with his cell phone to the degree that he would sit in a corner alone and write text messages to imaginary friends during the middle of a party.
Eventually, his spouting of inane, pseudo-philosophical bull ****, combined with his dull personality and rampant self-obsession, became enough to drive all of his friends away. In the end, even his father left him for greener pastures.
Lonely, depressed, and increasingly nihilistic, Vier began to abuse prescription drugs, and one day he overdosed, had a severe brain aneurysm, and died.
As he collapsed to the ground and gave up his final, soggy, wheezing breath, his empty shell of a body coughed up a disgusting, oily black hairball.
This hairball had annoying voice acting and incredibly unlikable characters, but he also carried a SPAS-12 shotgun, so most people ignored his faults (in his presence, anyway).
Many people in the neighborhood began to refer the hairball as "Horatio" but I just call him Lost and Damned.
If you ate the other slop happily, you'll probably eat this slop happily as well out of 10
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