So I demo'd PJ Monsters, and it was a cute, fun little game. Then I demo'd PJ Eden, and it was a cute, fun little game. The one thing that stood out for Eden? Trophy support. The first game 'released' with trophy support. SSHD was patched in as we are all aware.

Eden has some strong selling points for all PS3 users. Great, great music. A Kyoto-based multimedia artist and DJ, Baiyon mixes it up for this release. Trophy support! Again, the first released game with trophies built-in. If trophies don't give a PS3 game replay value, nothing does.

Now onto the ratings.

Gameplay: 8

Very simple controls allow for quick pick-up of this game. The simple and very nicely, short how-to explains it all for you. Yet there could be more here. Add the function to shoot pollen at the dreaded little Prowlers. A neat feature is that everytime you gain a new spectra you add to the start screen level. As this level grows you find new gardens. There are also flowers that will change the color of the start screen, nice!

Online mode: 2

FAIL! No online mode. Only a simple 3p mode. With a trophy that requires you to trampeze between two others, why is online not here? Online mode would open the title up for another 10 trophies easily. Obtain all spectra in online mode. The 5 minute trophy with 2 others, etc...

Features: 8

Simple, trophies being the most important. Youtube video recording being a huge nice and new feature.

PlayStation.Blog » PixelJunk Eden: Trophies Galore!

Not yet seen in any PS3 title. None that I'm aware of on other consoles either. In-Game XMB music is unlockable.

So, what happens after you beat PixelJunk Eden? - PS3 Fanboy

All that's missing is online mode.

Graphics: 6

I'll give the game a break. It is a Pixel Junk game. The background graphics are nice, but could stand to be a huge part of the game. Obviously there's not alot going on in the foreground. Why not explode the graphics in the background?

Music: 10

Great, great music. A Kyoto-based multimedia artist and DJ, Baiyon mixes it up for this release. As if the orginal isn't enough. Later on IG-XMB music is unlocked. Whoa! Now jamb out getting trophies to Tool and A Perfect Circle and RATM!!! This game was built for IG-XMB music.

Replay: 9

Well obviously it's not super easy to get some of these trophies. So there will be alot of time spent in this game. A perfect 10 is missed because there is too much replay at first. You gain one spectra and instantly have to turn around and get it again before getting 2, and so on.

I had originally rated this game an 8. But once I sat down and started to write the review I realized I just couldn't give 8's across the board. PJ Eden is a super great game. At the cost of $9.99, with trophies, IG-XMB music, and Youtube support, it's a wonder it's not $19.99.

All that is left is for Q Games to release some DLC (hopefully for free), with online mode and this game is golden bound. Gold trophy bound that is!

Trophy addiction is becoming a huge problems for PS3 users. Trophy addiction, or TA, is a human disorder which affects the brain and it's thought process. Common to a computer virus which eats away at all the computers RAM, or random access memory. TA does the same to the human brain. TA begins as just a mere thought. Shortly after being exposed to your first trophy, TA begins to consume the humans every thought...

I suffer from TA!

Pixel Junk eden

eden is the first game to actually be released with trophy support built-in. SSHD was the first game to use trophies, and it was patched in. eden, without trophies, would not be on my radar. But after comparing trophies with several other friends, I was interested.

eden comes with 20 trophies, 19 bronze, 1 silver. I think I'm upto 3 so far, but currently just going in order. I'm going to start jumping around and get some of the others.

BRONZE

All Seeds 01
Open all seeds in garden 01
All Seeds 02
Open all seeds in garden 02
All Seeds 03
Open all seeds in garden 03
All Seeds 04
Open all seeds in garden 04
All Seeds 05
Open all seeds in garden 05
All Seeds 06
Open all seeds in garden 06
All Seeds 07
Open all seeds in garden 07
All Seeds 08
Open all seeds in garden 08
All Seeds 09
Open all seeds in garden 09
All Seeds 10
Open all seeds in garden 10
All Gardens Clear
Get a Spectra in each garden
Combo Ten
Pollen Prowler combo x 10
Combo Fifteen
Pollen Prowler combo x 15
The Hundred Thousander
Get 100.000 pollen in one garden
500 Dead Pollen Prowlers
500 Pollen Prowlers killed
Ten Minute Grimp
Get all 5 Spectra from a garden within 10 minutes
Fifteen Crystals
Get fifteen crystals in a single jump
Zero Wasted Pollen
Open all seeds in a garden without missing any pollen
Three Play Ping Pong
In 3p mode, trapeze jump between two swinging Grimps

SILVER

All Spectra Found
Get all the Spectra in all gardens

eden is a cute game, and besides the trophies, the big selling point is the music. Kind of techno vibe music from Kyoto-based artist Baiyon. My wife hates it, she says she'd rather me shoot and kill people in MGS4 then listen to that music. But I enjoy it.

In eden, you have to go through different levels finding pollen and spectra. The cool thing, your start screen is a level aswell. As you unlock a level, you have to find it in your start screen.

sarah wuz here

My adorable wife just woke up. We're enjoying our first spiked coffee shots. I found the recipe on a Wii page. There made with espresson, condensed milk, and Kahlua liqour. The idea is to enjoy them while still playing Wii with one hand. I gotta start cooking breakfast. I'll finish this blog later, lol. She got hammered last night drinking wine.

Later

As I do almost every work day, I waken Monday morning and drag outta bed towards the coffee maker. I turn on the Krups espresso & caffe coffee maker, then grab a shower. Swinging my the pc desk to turn the tower on w/ my toe. I get dressed, grab a bowl of cereal and surf the net before work. This morning I was surprised to see that US PSN ids are now capable of being linked to the US PlayStation.com site.

OH NO!

My original PSN id is PGAGolf3r, which I never use. It's also the id that is linked to my GAP account and my PS.com account. Since I've been a member for awhile now. So I link my id to the website to check it out. I still want my MeltTech PSN id linked. So I think quick. Swap emails? No way Sony will let that happen. They'll recognize that the other id had been used before. HAHA! Wait until I get to work and use my work email as a 3rd email while I swap. It works. I get them swapped. So now PS.com will think my PSN id is MeltTech. NOT!

Now I can't update my portable id on ps.com. I've emailed them to see if they can straighten it out, and hopefully I'll be MeltTech in GAP and PS.com world now.

For those that are unaware visit:

http://us.playstation.com/ or

http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/07/14/playstation-network-portable-id-now-available/

to check it out.

Here's what the ps.com 'portable ids' look like.

I can finally confess... They can co-exist. It's taken awhile, May 17 - July 3, to be exact. My wife finally grabbed a Sixaxis and commensed to woop my arse in High Velocity Bowling. See we both grew up with competiveness in our blood. While growing up some 100 miles from one another, we both have the look in our eyes that says, "I'm 'bout to PWN you!" She went to her youth being a competitive swimmer. Winning medals and meets all the way through high school. While training for the Olympic trials her damaged her rotary cuff, and got the go ahead from a doctor. Only to go out and further injure it and be out of competetive swimming for ever. :( I grew up on 2 wheels. Racing dirtbikes competetively in the southeast US. Starting in the woods and having a few minor sponsors, I was moving up through the ranks year by year. Finishing highschool and going racing full time, I was only met with alot of bad luck. Dropping out of the sport to work, and finally returning from strong peer pressure. I grabbed a semi-full ride from a local bike shop. Impressing them greatly racing MX for the first time I had a full ride, minus the bike. Heading into the middle of my second season with the points lead in my class, and 3rd in points in a second class things were looking good. Only to wodded it up in a practice session and take a visit to the ER. Coming out with 2 fractures ribs, and sprained hip, and a slight concussion I was still earning to race. Only to get in practice and realize that fractured ribs will hurt when landing from 75ft triples and insane tabletops that through you 30ft high.

Fast forward to present. We marry on May 17, 2008 and honeymoon in Hawaii. We start bowling a month or so later in High Velocity Bowling, and she doesn't stop until she beats me. Which came easy for her. Not paying attention to spin or alignment, it's all technique with her. Which makes sense when a swimmer(technique) meets with a MXer(brawn). So she gets wind that the Wii is fun from our friends and family. She knows we don't need to spend that money as we look for a new house in our new marriage. She commits that she's going to buy the first one she lays eyes on. We do our usually errands @ Target and the in-and-out @ Wally World, we see none. July 3rd we run into Wally World for a few small things after cleaning the condo. I text her from the electronics section to inform her... 3 on d shelf! Seconds later, she's around the corner and looking at me with big beautiful blues, asking, "Do we get it?" I tell her it's all you baby, I have my PS3. So she says, "If I don't get it now, I'll be back later, and it'll be gone and I'll be sad again."

So now she woops me in Wii Sports bowling, and boxing.

Game Hard or Go To Bed Biatch!

So here it is, March 08, 08... In just over 2 months, 2 months and 9 days to be exact, I'm getting married. Things are falling into place now. I just need to finish up a few things. Finalize the honeymoon. We're going to Hawaii for 8 days, 3 on Oahu, and 5 on Maui. Touring Pearl Harbor, visiting the Polynesian Culture Center on Oahu. Maui, we're gonna do alot of relaxing, take a helicopter ride. Maybe fly to the Big Island and rent a convertible for the day and view the volcanoes still active. We still have to find somewhere to live. We have an apt. picked out for 6 months, but rent is kinda high. We could almost afford a kick ass house for the same amount.

Now for the bad parts. I didn't go visit her today and when she called I was in the middle of COD4 w/ my brother. She gets annoyed because I put her on speaker phone and the stereo is blasting gunfire and grenades. She says I'm not being productive, because she spent all day doing stuff for the wedding. When she's here it's cool, like I can wake up early and play for awhile until she wakes up. Then I cook her breakfast, and fix some coffee or lattes for us. Then we have a good day. We did buy Rock Band last weekend, per her request, so I guess this is a big plus aswell. She hurt her fingers from playing the drums all day, lol. She hasn't even bothered looking for jobs in my town, which is where we're going to live. She lives 70miles away. I don't want her communiting that far. Even if they do set her up to work from home, and go in twice a week. I'm afraid married life will be all work and no play. I NEED MY PS3 TO SURVIVE. If any married guys can tell me how they work gaming time into married life time, please let me know, asap.

So I'm out on Friday doing some Christmas shopping. My parents, yes, parents, both play FFXI on the PS2. They have a sick LAN that I set up for them. With wireless and all, so when I go down I have bandwidth, since they have 2 PS2 and 2 pcs running through a router. So they need new keyboards for their PS2s. I search high and low and finally stubble upon the one's I'm looking for at Office Max.

Anyways, while I'm in Best Buy, they have so many HDTVs they have some run overs(?) over by the pc hardware. I happen to notice a nice Samsung 40" for a good price. And wow, it's 1080P. Well I call the fiance and tell her and she's like, that's a good price, get it if you want it. But we've told each other we'd wait until we're married and all.

So I talk to her on Friday night again and she's like, how's our new tv? I tell her I didn't get it, but it was a nice 40" Samsung 1080P for only $1499.99. She's like that's the best price you've seen so far, have you looked any where else? I hadn't so I start looking around the web for the same model #. Find it at CC, Fry's and Brandsmart USA. Fry's has it for $1099, and I'm like, holycrap! (Not really what I said) So I ask around and someone tells me to get the 65 series instead of this 61 series. So I look at the 65 series, which has a clear screen and better contrast ratio (10000:1 vs. 15000:1), for only $200 more. Fry's doesn't guarantee their online prices w/ store prices, so I call the nearest store an hour away. It's only $1199 in store.

The dang thang ain't fitting in my Acura, so I call my brother who has a Tahoe, he's in town shopping w/ his fiance and mother. So he's unavailable. Call my other brother, he's in town with his wife and Escalade, and they don't mind giving me a ride.

So to wrap it all...

This **** rocks!

Pictures to come later!

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/8538

XBOX 360 hardware woes Microsoft really hit it out of the park when it came to the Xbox 360's software-consider the slick Dashboard, the persistent Achievements and Gamertags, and the top-notch Xbox Video Marketplace. But the actuall 360 hardware is a disaster: chronically glitchy, prone to overheating, and all too susceptible to the "Red Ring of Death," which signals a critical hardware failure. Indeed, I'm already on my second Xbox 360 in barely a year, and just about every 360 owner I know has had to send their console back to Redmond for repair. In June, Microsoft finally did the right thing and owned up to the shoddy state of its hardware, extending the Xbox 360's warranty to a full three years and taking a $1 billion charge in the process.

HD format war drags on, begins to feel pointless
The back-and-forth battle between the Blu-ray and HD DVD camps continues to rage, with no end in sight. Blu-ray backers were telling us back in January that they had it all wrapped up, especially with the release of Blu-ray-packing PlayStation 3 consoles. But then something funny happened: the PS3 didn't sell nearly as well as expected (although sales are on the uptick thanks to recent price cuts). Meanwhile, prices for HD DVD decks fell steadily, while stand-alone Blu-ray price tags stayed stubbornly in the $400 to $500 range. Then, in August, HD DVD delivered a brutal sucker punch when Paramount and DreamWorks pulled their support for Blu-ray, choosing instead to go with HD DVD exclusively (word is the two studios were paid handsomely for crossing the street). As it stands now, the HD format war is at (in the words of Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer himself) a "stalemate." What's the punchline to this sad tale? By the time this slugfest is over, we'll probably be downloading all our HD movies anyway.

His blog also has a post about the SDK price cuts to help surge PS3 game development...

THANK YOU EVOLUTION!!!

Wow! Kinda late, but better late than never(or before Motorstorm2). I must first apologize, I dl'ed the expansion the day it came out. But was busy playing EoJ.(I think, or skate.) So tonight was the first time I played the expansion. Won the first race.(was this a new level too? found a new route?) Finally got to the unveiling of Devil's Crossing. One word? PWNAGE! This route is sweet. If this was built around the skeleton of Dust Devil, then you ripped it's splenum out. The over and unders are nice. Gotta stay out of that mud using the buggy. I really like the height of the grass. Using the Super BXR, which is low, the grass is slapping you in the face. The quick skirt through the airplane is a quick rush. If anyone hasn't paid pwnage to this expansion pack, get it. Get it fast!

Welcome TO MOTORSTORM!

ps...can't wait for the Dualshock 3 w/ the vibration on high.

So, basically my PS3 totally consumes me. I sneak in time at work to catch up on blogs, forums, etc... Recently, I've been coming here to Gamespot. Nice site, w/ alot of features. Today I stumble upon a curious news headline.

XBL winter update...

Goes on to say that Microsoft has stated that the winter update for XBL will allow users to view their friend's friend's list.(if over 18yrs old). You can leave it all private ofcourse. 13yr olds have some more restrictions. They are adding a timer for parents or gf/bf to knock youoffline if you hoard too much bandwidth. Really it's to keep you from playing more, etc... (We don't need this. I don't have kids, only a fiance. Last thing I need is her turning off my PS3)

But, besides the HUGE feature of Remote Play, what have we gotten lately that stands out from the rest? HOME willpounce on XBL fo' sho'. But who knows when we're actually going to get that. Nov.29, this Thurs. Let's all hope. I think Sony has slept too late on the feature already. So what if it's not complete. Release it before Black Friday, and PS3s are as good as sold. They've already said it's going to be a constant evolving service. Just like firmware upgrades. They should have kept it small, fixed the few bugs, and released it in the summer. Do you know how huge the PSN would be right now.

On another side note. I stopped into a Target this past Sunday, post Black Friday, to grab a couple of booster packs for EoJ. This was a nice Target, in a nice section of a prodimently black area of Atlanta suberbs. In the same case they had 1 40gb 399.99, an 80gb 499.99, and low and behold a 60gb 499.99. Ok, I know the 60gb is complete backwards compatible. But who, besides some retro-vert, would buy the 60gb over the 80gb? Same price, 20gb free, and Motorstorm free.

Back to our regularly scheduled gaming hour. PEACE!

So with this week being Thanksgiving in the US, alot of us are getting excited about having a few days off to get some game time in. I, for now, only have my good ole' SDTV. So I really enjoy going to my parents house and getting on their 1st gen HDTV. It's 4:3, and really only looks the best in 480P, but man what a difference that little bit makes. I'm afraid mine will be short lived. Found out today that work needs me in for a few hours on Thurs. I'm a process tech, and we're a 24/7 industry. We have a 32" Vizio in my part of the offices, so I'm thinking of grabbing a HDMI cable and seeing what that plays like. But I'd rather be in and out and go back to my parents. I have tickets w/ my fiance's brother for the ATL/IND game on Thurs. night, so there goes a full day/night of gaming. We have ATL Thrashers tickets for Fri. night, so there goes another night of gaming. Saturday will be spent worshipping my fiance's alumni team the GA Dawgs! Sunday will be spent playing a round of golf. What did I say about not gaming? Games...games...games...games...games. Hopefully I'll find some time to get in a few hours of Warhawk, EOJ, Motorstorm, & R:FOM online.