It appears that Namco bosses are from outer space, or are able to see into the future. Either way, the BBC reported that:

"The Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn has caught an interesting new view of the tiny moon Mimas...The probe measured temperature differences across the object's surface and produced a map that looks just like the 1980s Pac-Man video games icon."

I kid you not. It looks like Pac-man, and in fact it appears to be Pac-man about to eat another dot. I do have an original idea...what if this giant solar system is a giant Pac-man game...I just hope Earth isn't a cherry bonus, as Pac-man isn't too far away ;)

Final note: Thank god they didn't see a Space Invaders game up there...or we'd be in trouble.

See the full BBC report HERE

Arguably Sonic's finest outings were, ironically, his first three games. Ironic in the fact that since then he has never achieved the same success, nor has he inspired gamers as the original trilogy had to those kids growing up in the 90's. Hell my first Sonic game was the original Sonic the Hedgehog, and I found it such a breath of fresh air.

But that was 1991, the year of the first Gulf War, the end of the Soviet Union, and the introduction of a blue speedy hedgehog. All important events in the history of the world. Almost 20 years on, Sonic has been involved in various games on every SEGA console - but nothing standing close to the original Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy.

Now my anguish comes from SEGA's reliance on the original Sonic games. The recently released Sonic Collection on the Nintendo DS. This is the latest release of the original Sonic games...and the first time all have been together on a portable system. SEGA have released various Sonic games on the GBA, but not the original trilogy without lag.

Now let's play a game, who many times have the original Sonic games been released? There's been the Sonic Compilation on Mega Drive (which only features Sonic 1 and 2..but still counts), the Sonic Mega Collection, Sega Mega Drive Collection, SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection and of course the various downloadable versions of Sonic 1-3 on XBLA and Wii VC.

With 6 copies of the same Sonic games (7 if you include the original Mega Drive carts!), why did they release the DS version? I have a few theories about this...the first is that SEGA love to remind people of Sonic's famous past, or perhaps they thought the younger generation of DS owners haven't played the original Sonic games on the 7 various formats and need to play them? Or...my favourite.....that SEGA are still milking the original Sonic games to death.

I think I'll let you guys decide :)

Update: I've been fighting Gamespot's hatred of the word "c.l.a.s.s.i.c" for about half an hour...no way for me to link any websites. Apologies, please google Sonic Collection on DS. Can't even include the word in links!

Two words. Demon's Souls. This game is the one reason to a) hate the fact it hasn't been released in Europe and b) love the fact that Playstation 3 consoles are region-free. Why this game hasn't been released in Europe has prompted for reasons why, but firstly let me look at the game in question.

The premises of the game is simple, demon's have risen from their eternal slumber, every hero has failed so far, and now your character is the potential saviour of the world. Demons get stronger with every human soul, and your character gets stronger when he collects demon souls. It may seem like an Onimusha-type game, but that is a very loose comparison. The world of Demon's Souls is far deeper and darker than you could ever imagine.

Now onto the mystery surrounding this game. Initially released in Japan, then it received a limited release in the USA, and in a Slumdog Millionaire hype it went on to sell 250,000 copies (as of this month). So why haven't they released the game in Europe? It would surely be worthy of trying? Let's examine why it would be pointless releasing the game commercially in Europe.

Firstly the game itself needs to be adapted to European standards. This means suiting the needs of EVERY country in Europe (yes Europe isn't actually a country...but a continent...shock horror!). UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy...and the other 45 countries that make up Europe and the Transcontinent. This means translating into X amount of languages (usually 10ish), censoring for some countries (Germany censoring violence...etc.) and various import taxes, setting up stocks, sending stock over, or getting a European country to produce the game, along with the European rights to distribute. A real potential nightmare for a Japan-only producer.

The second point is that the PS3 is region-free, and if Europeans want this game - let them import it. It's as simple as that. They translated it into English (the "world's apparent language), so most will understand it. This makes sense, as they leave every detail for the middle man to handle. Importers can ask for the game, and sell to a European market. This is a lazy, cost-effective method - and it suits everyone...except the non-English speakers. At the moment it seems to make sense, and I think this game shouldn't be released over here. You can get this game for £26-30...so what's holding you back? If your from the UK and love a good RPG, head over to an importer and get it!

Now it's not often that I say this...but I think Battlefield Bad Company 2 could easily be a Modern Warfare 2 beater. I hate that expression - having to compare two games because they're share the same theme...WAR. For me Modern Warfare 2 was a piece of art, with it's improvement of almost every aspect on Modern Warfare, and some more. But MW2 and BF:BC2 have absolutely nothing in common except they are two sub-series of two popular warfare games that both originated doing World War Two FPS games - with Call of Duty focusing on the single player aspect and Battlefield sticking to the multiplayer.

Now Bad Company 2 has been highly anticipated, and to be fair I've seen this kind of thing before. The original Killzone was dubbed a "Halo killer", and so everyone began comparing the two - which is NOT what video games are about. It's as much use as comparing Coca-Cola and Pepsi....basically they're the same carbonated soft drink that giant corporations have mass produced to suit your taste.

I've not really been overly excited about BF:BC 2, but now I can understand why. The game is INSANE. I mean really, it's really opened my eyes. The past 2 years I have practically dedicated my life to the three CoD games, Modern Warfare, World at War and Modern Warfare 2. The original BF:BC was pretty decent, but now it seems this sequel is somewhat...better. It's hard to explain, the game just took everything I knew about BF:BC and added a lot more action, guns and generally made it easier to play. The controls are easier, and they've really made it a demolition game...in the sense that you can blow anything the hell up. See that sniper gunning your team-mates? One RPG and blow up the entire building. Simple as.

Now I'm off to write my Resident Evil 5 Lost in Nightmare review....actually I'll do it in the morning as I don't want nightmares ;)

Having finished the Lost in Nightmare DLC for the third time (veteran only, still got professional to go!) I thought I'd offer my take on this expansion to the Resident Evil 5 game.

Firstly as a DLC you don't expect it to be more than a couple of hours, but the actual gameplay can be done in as little as 40 minutes. That is a slight issue, but the actual gameplay is far more rewarding.

The DLC is Capcom's answer to the dedicated fans who want a return to the old Resident Evil games. Lost in Nightmare offers a chilling, claustrophobic experience that certainly got me scared for the first time since Resident Evil 3 (yes, the Nemesis was scary for a 11 year old!)

I'll be compiling a review of this tomorrow, and possibly a video review by the end of next week! So stay tuned!

So it seems that the latest run of bugs have been fixed, people can now continue to enjoy playing games online. However that is not the case for me, I am still waiting to be online. I can't get any trophies (earned the "Air to Air" achivement on Heroes Over Europe, yet no trophy) and I cant stay online for more than 10 minutes.

So here goes to another day of fiddling with network settings.

Yep I got it too. The leap year bug, the "I don't like March" bug or, my favourite the delayed Millenium bug. Yep it seems my old 60gb fat PS3 (she's a real beauty) has given up on the online side....and now I expect to have a patch from Sony which I can download on the PC and install via flash or SD card (because I do have the original with flash card support).

When did I realise this? Last night at exactly 00:00 - at first I thought nothing of it - but then I finished Heroes over Europe and got NOTHING. No gold trophy, or even silver for doing in on "pilot" difficulty. I knew something was up then.

Then this morning, reports that the bug was messing with save data, trophies and even themes. I found out my RE5 and UK Blighty themes had been corrupted - fair dos I'll just download them again. A completely random bug has managed to destroy an online community, and even make it on the front page of BBC News LINK

And so I have one thought, why would it only stop the original PS3s? Why target them? And more importantly, how many owners were p!ssed off with the crash that they bought a new slim model? More money for Mr. Sony I think - anyway enough of the conspiracy theories.

In reality it's the one time Sony have messed up, and they promised to fix it up. In my honest truth this is the first cock up since Uncharted 2's trophy glitch (didnt get the 70 kills for the FAL...the swines!) - yet this cock up is worse. Oh well, at the end of the day it's free online gaming - I mean we didn't pay for it right?

Okay guys I've bought several games this week, purely because they were cheap and because I haven't played many aircraft games since the legendary Heatseeker (still one of my favourite air sims!)

So in no logical order:

Tom Clancy's Hawx on PS3

I've not played this, but have heard so much about it. My friend at uni played this all last year, so it was a steal at £12 :)

Heroes Over Europe on PS3

I've got the whole PS3 love thing going on here :D Another awesome game for the PS3, this one isn't as good as Il-Sturmovik 2, but for me it's still a pretty decent game. One thing I'm loving is the sceneries in HD....they're just WOW! Especially seeing ol England and shooting a couple of Jerries over Dover......ahhh

Pip pip! Chocks away! And all that....

C&C Red Alert 3 on XBox 360

I've got this game already on the PC, and I got C&C 3 on 360, so for £4 this was an absolute shower! Can't get better than that!

There is also news that a road in Derby, England is to be named after one of Britain's most famous gaming characters...yes Lara Croft. It will become "Lara Croft Way"....nice!

LINK!!!

A random update, but I found a hilarious Facebook conversation...I hope you'll agree

Personally I'd have chosen PS3 ftw......;)

So there's three things I need to update with you guys, 3 things on my GS account that have changed.

Firstly I'm now Level 29, Rank: Radiant Silvergun! Only one more level before I reach the big 3-0!

Also I've received two new emblems, which are:

Participant in 2009 Readers' Choice Awards.
"Sure, that game is good... FOR BABIES!" "That game sucks! It doesn't even have online capture the flag!" "Barbie Horse Adventure: Riding Camp just lost so much of the magic that made Barbie Horse Adventure great." And so on. These intrepid readers braved the chaos of the Readers' Choice process and let their opinions be heard above the cacophony of argumentative commenters. Congratulations, voters!

Read it and weep!
Beware of these GameSpotters who spawned Hallmark moments with their creative Valentine's Day e-cards. Those who participated in creating Valentine's Day e-cards were both naughty and nice, and they certainly aren't afraid to share their feelings with other GameSpotters!

So the first one is a big obvious, it's the usual Best of Award....got 3 in a row, and proud of it! :)

The second one saw me enter a Valentine e-card on the forums, and this was my entry:

Not exactly the most loving, but much more tongue-in-cheek ;)

Also in other gaming news I've been playing the demo of Aliens vs Predator on the PS3 with my friend, and it is an amazing game. It takes quite a while to get used to it, but the Predator and Marines are my favourite, with the Alien being a bit too complicated for my liking - I constantly got lost and confused whilst climbing walls lol.

Hi there guys!

Apologies for the lack of blogging, I've been too busy with my youtube account - and there's no real excuse except I've been real busy this month. Anyway...enough crap on why I'm not on here - here's what games I've pre-ordered and what games I'm excited about:

Excited:

If only because I never got excited about Fallout 3, and the embarrassing fact it took me a year to get into the game. Nevertheless, now I know that Fallout 3 is the GOD of post-apocalyptic RPGs, I look forward to seeing how Vegas looks after a nuclear bomb has hit it.

From one post-apocalyptic Vegas to another, this time zombies! One of my fav games on the 360 is Dead Rising, so I hope the guys at Capcom can make DR2 what Resident Evil 2 was to the original....10 times better :)

Need I say anymore? I've pre-ordered this beast...and yes if I have the funds I'll keep my order. If not....then I'll probably have to sell my right arm for it...or a kidney.

Again need I say anymore? The original was gory, fun and damn right bizarre. Hopefully this will be all that with a large coke. Right now this is one game I've been keeping my eye on, and it looks set to be epic.