Been pretty busy this month so not a lot of blogging. My sister got married and my whole family was busy with the wedding stuff. I was an usher and I had to take care of my relatives who were visiting. In any case, it was a very exhausting week and a half.

In terms of gaming, I'm currently replaying Uncharted (PS3) for the trophies. I deleted my old save before I started since I read there were glitches with the trophies if you kept your old pre-patch saves. It's been really fun and I found myself having an easier time with the platforming. I also have to mention that playing with the 7.1 output with my 7.1 setup is a revelation. I'm glad Uncharted offers 7.1. :) Anyways, almost done, it's still awesome and gorgeous. I can't believe this was an early PS3 title. Uncharted 2 is gonna look even better!

New pick-ups:

iPod Touch 32GB 2G - Early bday present from my sis and her new husband. FYI, my bday is tomorrow, July 28. T_T

iPod cases and screen protector + Watchmen (BD)

Some random apps during the first few days of use. I've added more since then.

iTunes gift card - A bday gift from my coworker. :)

Wipeout HD Fury (PS3) - It's awesome. Great add-on.

Movies + Sideshow gift card.

And finally, Hot Toys Predator 1/6 Figure.

Too lazy to write the descriptions. More pick-ups from June and a sprinkle from July because they arrived today.

Not shown: Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Sam & Max Save the World and King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match. All from XBLA.

I just finished Red Faction: Guerrilla (360). What an awesome game! The final 4-5 missions were just plain epic. Nice satisfying ending too. I was quite surprised with what new mission types they added near the end. :)

So the ability to destroy any building and vehicles was just plain fun. But what really surprised me were the large variety of mission types. Even if the mission types were the same, the way you approach each one is different. Even the main missions have their own unique missions from time to time that kept things fresh. It was really fun playing all of them. FYI, there are a few different mechs in the game and they're awesome to drive. I won't spoil it for you guys but the demo is just a taste of it. ^_^

The graphics are nice solid even though some textures may not be the most crisp. There was also some screen-tearing in the early area (Parker). But I didn't find them popping up in the areas after it. The explosions and damage in the buildings were pretty spectacular. The world looks fairly nice even if some locations may seem bare. But dust is constantly flowing around and the various day and night times look very nice.

The music and sound is equally impressive. The creaking and metal/stones getting crushed adds so much weight to the graphics. I was also impressed with the various sound effects the sledgehammer would make depending on what you hit it with and how you hit an object. The devs really put a lot into the audio. The voice acting is quite good too. Everyone was well cast and did their job well. The music was surprisingly good. When you're just roaming around, there's some Blade Runner-esque tracks which add to the sci-fi feel. And when you're in some action-packed missions, the music really revs up and adds to the drama. I really dug the soundtrack.

The story is nowhere near as impressive as inFamous and GTAIV but it's not bad. It's a rather simple story with some simple characters. There may be a few twists here and there but it's not crazy. But what I really like about the game is that the main character, Mason is a really good guy. This may be the FIRST open-world game where you play a REAL good guy. Mason is patriotic and stoic, not arrogant. It's really refreshing when the main character for these types of game is such a stand-up guy fighting for his rights. Thank you Volition. :)

Anyways, awesome game. It's really fun and destroying stuff never gets old. This is one of my fave games this year. Everyone should definitely check it out. MUST PLAY!

Btw, make sure to set the game to Casual difficulty. This is the best way to play the game. The enemies are overly aggressive in Normal mode and higher so it's not worth it unless you want to torture yourself or want bragging rights. There are no achievements/trophies for self-torture people. :P

So I finished Ninja Blade (360) on Normal last night. Great game! Not sure what the haters were talking about. I found the game fun and many of the bosses were challenging and enjoyable. There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about the game from either the demo or the presentation itself.

The game is an obvious parody of Ninja Gaiden BUT it also contains elements of many other action games that people haven't mentioned. The reason I know the devs didn't take this game seriously (aside from the crazy QTEs) were the unlockable costumes that included patterns like a clown or jester. They are totally hilarious and crazy. One of them even looks like a stab at an unlockable costume for Ninja Gaiden II which had animal patterns.

Here are my thoughts of what influenced the game:

Ninja Gaiden - The most obvious one from the design and graphics. Even the main character Ken acts like Ryu Hayabusa. But NB actually has more of a story and they have a much more useful camera. The story (or lack there of) is comparable on so many levels. ;)

God of War - I'm not sure why people never mentioned this one. The combat engine plays a lot like GoW instead of NG. You mash buttons and there's also QTE finishers as well. Some other crazy QTE events are also similar to the GoW boss battles except NB's buttons make more sense. Ex: "A" is always for Jump or Land.

Devil May Cry - Everything over the top in NB was obviously influenced by DMCs cutscenes. I think NB actually beats DMC in terms of pure insanity. :) The mission structure is also similar. You can revisit any mission and keep all upgrades. Some of the boss battles are similar as well including the final sub-boss in NB.

Resident Evil - The least obvious one. The whole "Alpha-worm" breakout and mutations look similar to some RE cutscenes from the older games.

So even if Ninja Blade ain't as good as those titles, I think From Software still made a fun crazy game. The QTEs and cutscenes are WAYYYYY over-the-top and just entertaining to watch. The gameplay is satisfying as well. I really loved the boss battles.The game's level designs were the worse part of the gameplay. The levels are boring and they even repeat some layouts later in the game. But they're not frustrating to navigate through so that's a good thing. The graphics are mediocre but the animation is excellent. The voice acting is alright and it was really weird when they kept jumping between English and Japanese for NO reason, lol.

Overall, if you like decent action games then this is worth checking out. It's just silly and hilarious. Don't take the game seriously and you'll have a good time. Worth checking out.

I also started Red Faction: Guerrilla (360) today and it's fantastic. I love the ability to destroy almost any structure and vehicle. The missions are fun and the motivation for your character's actions was well thought out. Really fun so far. You guys need to play this game. :D

So I completed inFamous (PS3) twice. I finished the game as Good on Medium mode and I went back and finished the game as Evil on Hard mode. Really fun game with a great satisfying ending. It's really interesting to see what was different when you played each side. I was sorta disappointed that most cutscenes were unchanged between both sides though. Oh well. But I liked the many poses that Cole does which looks like an obvious homage to Spider-Man. Hell, I would say inFamous is the best Spider-Man game without swinging. ;)

The voice acting is excellent and everyone fits in well with the characters and the comic book vibe. I was particularly impressed with the actor who does John's voice. The music is another winner and really fits in with the game well. I was really impressed with certain tracks in certain missions and the ending song is also very good.The sound effects were also very impressive and made good use of the 5.1 surround sound. If you don't have a 5.1 setup, you're missing out on some very cool effects involving a particular character's voice.

The controls are spot on and incredibly intuitive. I never had any real trouble learning to use the various new moves. It's really fun switching on the fly and all the powers work great. The gameplay is top notch and the electrical powers kept getting better and better as you unlock them.SO much fun. The platforming never gets old and I really enjoyed roaming around the city.

But my biggest gripe is with the graphics. The characters animate well and the electrical effects and explosions look great. I was also impressed with no loading when you're traveling around. BUT, there's a ton of pop-up everywhere involving the vehicles and enemies. The parked vehicles were the most noticeable since they all pop right in when you're just running along a street. There's also some texture pop-in with the buildings which annoyed me. There are also some other minor problems like clipping and it's a shame that they weren't able to fix these problems.

I also encountered some bugs that some reviewers have mentioned. I fell through the ground a few times during my second playthrough which ended me falling into some abyss and dying. It usually involved a high location during a mission so that sucked. I also encountered parts where enemies froze in place or ended up stuck in some janky falling animation. Many NPCs also seem to get stuck in some locations with a looped animation. All these little things added up and ruined a few experiences for me. I hope Sucker Punch will patch them out so future players won't need to deal with them.

But aside from those problems, the game is just fun and highly replayable. The story, characters and powers were quite memorable. I feel that the story has a lot more to offer so I hope we'll get a sequel in the future. There are lots of mysteries and loose ends that need to be tied up. Anyways, highly recommended!

Btw, just started Ninja Blade (360) this week and it's freakin' awesome! :)

Looks like I haven't received a single emblem relating to E3 2009. I've posted my concerns in the E3 thread but still nothing. I noticed that other readers mentioned about getting them but I still have NONE. I dunno what the problem is since I watched all three press conferences live.

Unless they all suddenly appear this week, it looks like my E3 emblem streak is offcially over. I've had every E3 emblem Gamespot has done since they started it. Kind of a shame that I'm not getting them because the Gamespot community team forgot about me. Bah...:(

Edit: Vince came through and I got all my emblems. YAY~!

Watched all the press conferences from the Big Three live on Gamespot this week. I don't feel like discussing them in detail so here are my grades and simple reasons.

Microsoft: A
Organized, lots of games, lots of guests (celebrities and major developers) and NO pie charts or sales figures!
Best game appearances: Crackdown 2, L4D2, Modern Warefare 2 live demo, Alan Wake live demo and Splinter Cell Conviction live demo.

Nintendo:B-
Plenty of games and a megaton. (Metroid Gaiden FTW!).
Best game appearances: New Super Mario Bros Wii live demo, Mario Galaxy 2, Golden Sun DS and Metroid: Other M.

Sony: A
Lots of games, many rumors/leaks confirmed and TRICO official trailer!
Best game appearances: Uncharted 2 live demo, MGS: Peace Walker, Assassin's Creed 2 live demo, GoWIII live demo and The Last Guardian.

I've also started playing inFamous (PS3) two days ago. I just completed the first island and just started on the second one. Really fun game that feels like Crackdown and GTAIV combined. The gameplay is fun even though I see a lot of graphical glitches and minor bugs here and there. The pop-ups for certain objects like parked cars are ridiculously BAD. The audio is really nice though. Good voice acting and some wicked surround sound moments. Anyways, very well designed game with missions that aren't frustrating at all. I'm enjoying it so far.

Btw, new pick-ups!

Got:

HotD Overkill HandCannon and Gyakuten Kenji LE (DS).

The Sims 3 (PC) - Gift for my sis.

RE5 Figures

Hot Toys 12" Iron Man Mark II SS Exclusive and Two-Face.

GPS accessories.

Before you ask, yes, I have a tree made of money in my backyard.

Anyways, got:

InFAMOUS (PS3) and FFT: A2 (DS) - Got a second copy as a gift for my sister's fiance.

Garmin nuvi 205 GPS and two memory stick pro duos (got 8GB and 2GB) plus a memory card reader.

Finally, this was a prize from Namco Bandai's Tales Brigade. I was supposed to win a ToS plushie but they sent me this ToS t-shirt with a ToV Volume III CD instead. Better than nothing I suppose but I doubt I'll wear this t-shirt in public, lol.

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Finished PunchOut!! (Wii) Career Mode last night. I beat the main story in about 4-5 hours in two sessions. I'm a PunchOut noob since I rarely played the original and I never played the SNES version. But the game's difficulty wasn't quite as bad as everyone said. There were a few guys who required multiple retries to understand their patterns/moves but once you get into the grove, they're not so tough. I didn't even need a guide so if I can beat it, anyone with some skills can beat it without too much problem too. Btw, I used the NES-type control setting.

The first two circuits were pretty easy. I breezed by with a few retries but the last circuit definitely required all your attention to beat. The last boss was especially tough since he's fast and powerful. I think reviewers online did a pretty poor job hiding the identity of who the last boss was. GameTrailers mentioned that they don't wanna spoil who it was but he's IN the actual video for their review...lol. I also heard his name uttered in a few video game podcasts as well. Anyways, I don't get what's so special about him or his name. Maybe I should read up on some PunchOut info.

Overall, fun game and very tough with a few opponents. I tried out the unlocked harder setting after I beat the game and it's definitely HARD. Even Glass Joe is hard in this mode so PunchOut pros will have a tough time with this mode. I haven't tried the other modes yet, maybe in the future when I have time.I need to catch up with my backlog pretty badly. Anyways, I highly recommended this game.

With my internet problems last week due to some seriously degraded splitters, I started playing Broken Sword Director's Cut (DS). The new puzzles and story elements are pretty cool and nice additions to the original game. They add a lot to Nico's personal story. BUT, I gotta say that I'm disappointed that there's no voices in this version. I loved the voices in the original PC version since they added a lot of humor to the game. The text is good but it's not the same without the accents from the voice actors. I read that the Wii version has voices so I'll be picking that up as well. I gotta have them all! ;)

I also got Space Invaders Extreme (360) and it's fun. The music ain't as good as I hoped and there's definitely not enough bass to make my room rumble. It's still a good game from what I played and the visuals are nice.

Anyways, more stuff due to more sales and preorders coming out:

Blu-rays! Terminator 2 Skynet Edition LE, Man on Fire (UK version), Bug's Life and RE: Degeneration

More Blu-rays: Heroes Seasons 1 & 2.
Plus Wii games: HotD Overkill, PunchOut!! and MadWorld

HD-DVDs - $28 total. :D

Bonus: My sis got me this promo t-shirt during a fundraising walk and there was a Terminator Salvation booth with promo crap along the route. They had this t-shirt on display so when she asked about it, they gave it to her even though it wasn't supposed to be given away. How generous. :)

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