Tag Archives: PSN

Playstation 3/ PSN Still Glitched Out

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Posted by Rob on March 1, 2010 – 6:27 pm
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So last night, it was around 10:00pm, and I was ready to get my game on. Before I hopped on, I checked my e-mail and checked out joystiq, and I saw a notice that the PS3 was busted, and warned against turning the PS3 on. While it wasn’t entirely clear what the issue was, I didn’t want to risk anything, so I didn’t go on.

It has now been about 22 hours, and the PSN is still messed up. Reports have been flying around that you can’t play most games, and that you will run the risk of losing trophies and save files. While I did not experience any of this personally, Steve happened to be on his PS3 last night.

Steve was playing Fallout 3, and he had no problem actually playing the game. He did realize two things though. First, his save files were getting the wrong date imprinted on them. Secondly, he was unable to see his Fallout 3 trophies. What will become of his saves and trophies?! We will not know, until it is safe to turn the system back on and to look over the damage.

The worst part is that I received Dynasty Warriors: Strike Force in from Gamefly, and I can’t play it!!!

Boycotting the God of War III Demo (for good reason)

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Posted by Rob on February 25, 2010 – 9:10 pm
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Today’s PSN update includes a demo for God of War III, and I for one am not downloading it. Not because I hate God of War, but because I don’t want to ruin the experience. I have the game pre-ordered from Gamestop, so I am definitely going to be owning it when it launches in a few mere weeks. I don’t want to spoil it by cheating and taking a peek at the demo before playing the finished game. That being said, I am not going to play the demo.

But I know it is going to rock!!!!

Finally Got Some Alien Time in Aliens vs. Predator PSN Demo

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Posted by Rob on February 8, 2010 – 8:20 pm
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As I mentioned earlier, I had a bit of a hard time getting a match going in the AvP demo that launched on Thursday. I tried throughout the weekend at random times, and was unable to get another match going. Today I tried again, and I finally got into a match. I basically set it up and while it searched for a match, I walked into the other room and played around on the computer. After about six minutes, I began to hear other people on their head sets, which meant that I had finally gotten into a game.

First off, I must correct a previous statement. In my other post, I complained that you were unable to choose your character in the demo, and that both times I was assigned to be a Marine. That is only half true. You are able to choose your own character, but you have to be quick. For some reason, the developers didnt want an 8-Alien or Predator battle royale going down, so once the first few Aliens or Predators are selected (I do not know the exact number), the remaining players are automatically assigned to be Marines.

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Frustrations with Aliens vs. Predator Demo on the PS3

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Posted by Rob on February 5, 2010 – 5:28 pm
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Ive been anxiously awaiting the release of AVP. I love the Alien/Predator series, and played the AVP game on the Atari Jaguar back in the day at my friend’s house in middle school. The game is right up on my Gamefly queue, so I will definitely be snagging it when it releases in two weeks. However, the demo released yesterday on the PSN, and I was excited to get my hands on it and try out the three races (Alien, Predator, and Colonial Marine) in the deathmatch demo. Unfortunately, the demo is plagued with failure, and I have been unable to enjoy it.

Apparently, the game servers were not prepared for the amount of people who downloaded the demo yesterday. As a result, it has been impossible to find a game to join. I tried at four different intervals to get a game going yesterday, and succeeded in getting two matches total going. After each match was over, the initial host left, so I was booted out and then unable to find another game. This inability to find a game to play is very annoying and frustrating. I hope it gets fixed so I can start checking out the game more.

My other complaint is with choosing a race. Both times I was unable to choose a race, and was stuck playing as the Marine. This is upsetting because the Marine is the least original. Playing as the Marine is just like playing any other FPS. While the Aliens crawl around and go in for melee kills and the Predator stays invisible and hunts, the Marine plays as you would in any other FPS.

But enough of my complaints. From what I did see and experience, it was a blast. It is a very intense FPS, and very fast paced. The Alien players are able to move extremely quickly, and can climb walls and hang from ceilings. Their main attack is melee based, and playing as the Marine I suffered several tails through the torso and eating of my face. The speed of the Aliens is what allows them to get up close for these devastating attacks. Oh, and in case I didnt make it clear, these are one-hit kills. So yeah, the Aliens are nasty.

I didnt see much of the Predator, and from what I did, he was just invisible. Well, not totally invisible, as you can faintly make out his outline. However, I killed quite a few Predators, and I didnt meet death from any, so I dont know how their attacks are. What I do know is that many of the Predators stronger weapons are scattered throughout the map, and you have to track them down to use them.

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PSN Review: Critter Crunch

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Posted by Rob on February 2, 2010 – 3:47 pm
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I played and enjoyed the Critter Crunch demo. It was bright, colorful, cute puzzle game with a unique premise. However, I wasnt enjoying it enough to pay full price. But once PSN put it on sale for $3.49, I jumped at the chance to snag it. I mean, $3 for a new game is pretty sweet.

So Critter Crunch takes place on an island. You control an adorable little “critter” named Bigs. The main premise of the game is following the island’s food chain, in that the smaller creatures get eaten by the larger creatures. You have to keep this in mind as you play each stage. The stage is set up with several varying roles of creatures coming down at you. To the left is Bigs hunger meter. The point is to feed little creatures to big creatures. Doing this makes them pop, and they drop an item that, when collected, will increase your hunger meter. Once you fill up the hunger meter, you complete the stage. However, if one of the rows of creatures hits the end of the row, its game over.

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Thursday= Resistance 2 Co-Op Night

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Posted by Rob on January 29, 2010 – 3:25 am
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Just finished a four-hour co-op session of Resistance 2 with a few of the folks over at co-optimus. We started at around 10pm, and I was the first to bounce at 2am, but the rest were still going strong. There were five of us total, plus the occasional guest who joined in for a round or two. I got my Solider raised up to level 14, but the Spec Op is still stuck at level 10. Man, I really dont play the Spec Op very well.

I really do enjoy playing Resistance 2 online, for the co-op. Im not as big a fan of the competitive. I hope that Resistance 3 (whenever it comes out) borrows from this, and establishes a good online co-op mode. So I just figured I would write a quick little post up to calm down before hitting bed.

Tonight was a success, and I hope we have more organized game nights in the future. I believe that Tuesday night next  week is going to be dedicated to co-op and competitive Uncharted 2, which should be fun since I havent delved too much into it. If you read this and have a PS3, just add me. You know the PSN name: BigBadBob113!!!

PS3 Demo Review: Matt Hazard: Bloodbath and Beyond

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Posted by Rob on January 9, 2010 – 9:16 am
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I have been enjoying Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard on the PS3, so when I saw that he had a game coming to PSN, I was pretty excited. I checked out the demo last night, and all I can say is that Im glad there was a demo, or I would have wasted $15!!!

Bloodbath and Beyond once again has Matt Hazard going through his previous video games, breaking the fourth wall as he goes. The humor from Eat Lead is definitely still present in the game, which is a good thing. However, rather than a third person shooter, this time its a side scrolling adventure. On the plus side, you can bring a friend along locally for some co-op goodness. But then again, if the person is your friend, you dont want to drag them into this mess of a game.

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Snagged Free Dragon Age: Origins DLC

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Posted by Rob on January 6, 2010 – 4:32 pm
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So when I first opened up my Dragon Age: Origins game, there was a little pamphlet inside which contained some codes for free DLC. I assumed it was some lame stuff, so wasnt initially excited. The first piece of DLC unlocks some Blood Armor, which is just a powerful armor set. Then I popped in the code for the second piece of DLC.

The second one unlocks the Stone Prisoner DLC, which sells for $14.99 on PSN. This was a nice DLC as it allows you to recruit a sweet golem as a character, and has some missions for him (and trophies). So the game included a great savings to me in the form of allowing me to snag the most expensive DLC for the game for free. Thanks to this, I am very likely to purchase the other DLC “Wardens Keep” which is only $6.99.

It was a pleasant surprise for sure. From what Ive read online, not all packages have the free DLC offer, so dont come yelling at me if you dont get it with your game purchase.

PS3 Review: Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard

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Posted by Rob on January 6, 2010 – 1:01 am
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Steve recently purchased Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard from Gamefly for a sweet $7 and change. After playing through it, he let me hold on to it for a playthrough (since he has been holding on to my copy of Fallout 3 for like a year now). While it is a run of the mill third person shooter, the story is what makes this game such a blast to play.

It gets a bit complicated, but Eat Lead is the first game to feature Matt Hazard. However, in the game you take on the role of Matt Hazard, who has been in video games for 25 years, from the 8-bit generation to the present. Basically, Matt finds himself thrown into a game world where he is forced to save friends and face foes from his previous games. On my initial playthrough, I assumed that there were previous Matt Hazard games, and thats where all this story and enemies were coming from, but I was wrong, and its all made up to make the story.

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A Night of Gaming with Shell

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Posted by Rob on December 30, 2009 – 9:13 pm
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Well, it wasnt a full night of gaming, but there was over an hour of PS3 goodness going on in our house. I started nice and easy and let Shell check out the Peggle demo, which she enjoyed. I liked Peggle a lot also, so it looks like I’ll be snagging that in the near future.

After that, I popped in Buzz! Quiz World, and we played two online matches against four other players. It was my first time playing the game online, and I enjoyed it. However, we both did pretty badly. In the first round I managed to stay in fourth place, and after losing that, we decided to rematch. During this round, I ended up doing horrible, and was in last place for most of the game. That was sad. But I was glad to get some gaming in alongside Shell. Tomorrow we will be playing some Rock Band 2 and the Rock Band AC/DC Track Pack that I bought her for Christmas while we wait for the ball to drop and drink cheap wine.

PSN Quick Review: Revenge of the Wounded Dragon

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Posted by Rob on December 16, 2009 – 8:03 am
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When this was announced on PSN, I was excited. Revenge of the Wounded Dragon was described as being a classic side-scrolling beat em’ up which could be played alongside a buddy locally or online. When it was released last week, I quickly snagged it up and played through the first two levels.

One of my biggest complaints is, sadly, the visual. The characters on screen (player and enemies) are extremely tiny, which makes it difficult to see. Also, since they are small, there is little detail given to them. I would have preferred to have the characters a little bigger and more crisp, but its not so bad as to totally ruin the entire game.

As for the game itself, you play as a karate dude who’s sister (or girlfriend) is kidnapped by some gangsters, and you have to punch and kick your way through swarms of enemies across multiple levels  to save her. The game has some very basic controls, relying on punch, kick, and jump. While this is all well and fine, I would have liked to see some variation. For example, maybe hitting the up directional and the kick button would result in a high kick, etc. However, the game does offer some changes to combat by allowing the player to pick up random items (like sacks of flour) and weapons (like guns, nunchucks, and sticks of dynamite) to take on your foes. There are also a variety of collectibles to snag through each level for points and trophies.

Two levels in, the game seems decent. I am waiting for Steve to come up tomorrow, and then we will blast through the entire game in co-op and see how that goes. So after that, I will write up a nice big review on the game, and let you know if the gameplay and co-op can save this visually unappealing game.

PS3 Demo Review: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

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Posted by Rob on October 8, 2009 – 5:14 pm
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Uncharted 2 comes out next week, but last week they released the online multi-player demo. I loved the first Uncharted, and enjoyed playing the Uncharted 2 beta a few months back, and Im really looking forward to Uncharted 2. In fact, my Gamefly queue is currently empty so that Uncharted 2 will ship on release day. But enough about the full game…this is about the demo for the online modes. The demo showcases seven different online modes. From what I could tell, two of them were co-op, and the other five were competitive. Steve and I met up and decided to rock through the co-op ones and see how they were.

I was pleased to find that the controls remained the same, as did the basic style of gameplay. Uncharted is not a FPS where you run around with a machine gun and blow everyone away…you really have to do a lot of duck and cover firing, meaning you will constantly be hiding behind objects, then firing off a couple of rounds, then hiding again. The health system is how a lot of FPS are going these days…as you get hit, the screen begins to turn red, and as you are near death it will turn gray. You can regen health by hiding somewhere and avoiding damage for a set period of time. The game looks and sounds amazing, with great graphics and voice overs. I cant wait to get into the single player campaign. Its gonna rock! But on to the demo!

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The “Not so Exclusive” Juggernaut Character from Gamestop

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Posted by Rob on September 16, 2009 – 7:58 pm
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So this whole thing really got me mad. I had pre-ordered MUA2 for the “exclusive” Juggernaut code. I generally hate pre-ordering, but when the benefit was this good, I had to.

Then last Thursday Juggernaut was available on PSN for a $1.99 DLC.

Now, maybe its just me, but an “exclusive” Juggernaut character is one that is only available through Gamestop, and not through PSN. Dont get me wrong, Im not mad that its on DLC. Im glad…I think that making something as beneficial as an additional character an exclusive offer is stupid.

Anyway, my point is that Gamestop is messed up for claiming it was going to be exclusive, when it clearly was not. I only pre-ordered (thus paying the MSRP of $59.99) to get this once-in-a-lifetime character. Had I known that PSN would offer it, even though it was not free, I would not have pre-ordered. I would have just got it through Gamefly, do the “keep it now” for $47.99, get my 10% discount for having the year membership, and then use my $5 game credit you get every three months.

Bottom line is that I could have got MUA2 and Juggernaut for about $45 or so in the end (getting the game from Gamefly and then buying Jugs from PSN), but instead was misled into paying $60.

For shame Gamestop, for shame.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Hits Stores Today

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Posted by Rob on September 15, 2009 – 5:56 am
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I havent been this excited for a game release since Sacred 2, and Ive been counting down the days til Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 came out. As you know, I ended up pre-ordering my copy from Gamestop so that I could get their “exclusive” Juggernaut character…only to find out its not exclusive at all and I can buy it from PSN for $2. Whatever.

Anywho, Im looking forward to getting out of school, speeding to the mall and picking up my preorder, then heading home and loading it up. I already know I want to have Venom and Juggernaut on my team, but I dont know about the other two. Probably a flyer and a projectile-user. Ironman does fall into both those categories…maybe I’ll join his side first.

I will definitely post about my first impressions of the game tonight, with a full review to follow as I play more.

PSN Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled

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Posted by Rob on September 11, 2009 – 7:23 pm
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The game came out about a month or two ago on the XBLA, and I have been waiting patiently for it to arrive on PSN. It was slated for an August release, but that came and went, and I lost hope. Then as usual, it was a complete surprise when it appeared last night on PSN. I really hate how Sony gives no advance notice on what to expect on PSN Thursdays…

So the game is a remake of the arcade version of the original Turtles in Time. However, many changes have been made, and most of them for the worse. The biggest change is the new graphics, which were redesigned to be modern/new age, not the old school arcade look. They failed, and the graphics are dark and just dont look very sharp. I definitely would have preferred the old school sprites to what they gave us. The second big difference is the loss of the Technodrome level. In the original, the fourth stage was the Technodrome, where Shredder was the boss. To beat him, you had to stun and then throw Footsoldiers into the screen. It was classic. However, the remake totally removed this level and boss battle, which was a disappointment.

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First Impressions: Wolfenstein (PS3)

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Posted by Rob on August 20, 2009 – 5:39 pm
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Finally got Wolfenstein in from Gamefly. They shipped it Monday, but I didnt receive it until today (Thursday). But enough about how slow shipping is. Onto my first impresions of the game!

Wolfenstein is a FPS set during WWII. The basic story is interesting, as it has the Nazi’s doing some crazy occult stuff, and its up to you (Agent B.J. Blazokwicz) to put a stop to it. So you run around, shoot Nazis and creatures from another dimension, and collect gold and intel pickups. You also get cash at the end of each mission, which can be used to purchase new weapons and upgrades. What was interesting was upon starting the first mission, I was rewarded bonus cash for playing Wolfenstein 3D from the PSN.I didnt play too much into it, so I only got $1000, but I wonder if I play more I get more cash, and possibly some other goodies.

The difference-maker in the game is the Thule Medallion. Its an artifact you receive early on, and you use it to alter the environment. For example, the two powers I have for it allow you to either view the environment with enhanced senses to easily pick out key locations, and also lets you slow down time, making it easier to dodge traps and bullets.

Also, in between missions you go to the town, from which you interact with individuals to prompt the next mission. You can also search the town for gold and intel documents, and take down Nazi soldiers who are patrolling the area.

So far its a lot of fun. The WWII setting, and the occult twist, has definitely got me hooked, and I already know I’ll be playing this game through. There is also an online competitive multiplayer mode which I have not checked out yet, but I will get around to it eventually.

PS3 Finally Gets Trophy Cards…Called Portable ID’s

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Posted by Rob on August 19, 2009 – 8:08 pm
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Get your Portable ID!

So as you can see above me, this is the new PS3 “trophy card”, which is being referred to as a Portable ID. Its available directly through the official PS3 website, and is a great feature they finally got around to doing. I was using Playfire for awhile to show off my trophies, but the problem was that to stay accurate you had to manually update and add trophies you acquired. This was not cool because not only was it a pain in the ass to constantly go on there whenever you received a trophy before you forgot about it, but anybody could claim they got any trophy and be a deuche about it.

So it took me awhile to figure out how to pop it on forum site like co-optimus but with the help of some forum members I was able to pop it on. The problem was that the Portable ID only comes with a html code, which is fine for my blog, but doesnt cut the mustard on forum sites, so I needed help creating a new code.

Anywho, its done, and its about time. It took Sony waaay too long to figure this out. There were a couple of independent sites offering this service, and Microsoft has been giving 360ers Achievement Cards (not sure what the official name is) for awhile now. So with this, Sony takes one more step towards competing with Microsoft. The price cut was a good thing, and this is also. Its silly to not offer the same services that the 360 does, even if 360ers have to pay. I’ll glady pay an annual price for online support if its as good as Microsofts. The only thing missing now is the damn voice chat. Is it so much to ask to be able to have a voice chat room running in the background while you play a single player game?!

PS3 Review- Gunstar Heroes (PSN)

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Posted by Rob on June 13, 2009 – 11:39 am
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Within the past few weeks, Sony has been very awesome in its release of PSN titles, many of which are older titles. I already talked about how I snagged FFVII, and Steve had gone off and gotten MK2 and Resident Evil. Well this week I picked up the newest remake- Gunstar Heroes, which is a remake of a Sega Genesis game that for some reason I never played, but should have.

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The game is a very basic platform side scrolling shooter. Very similar to Contra from the NES, you basically run forward firing guns at an overwhelming number of enemies. Like Contra, you can collect powerups to give you better guns (faster firing, spread shot, etc.) Also like Contra, you can have a buddy play along side you. However, UNLIKE Contra, you actually have a health meter, so one shot does not totally destroy you. That was one of the most frustrating things about playing Contra, and I still feel that way today if I go to play it.

The graphics are very colorful and eye-catching, and I liked the look of it. The controls were very basic, as either the directional pad or the left analog (I preferred the d-pad) are used to move, x jumps, and square or circle fires your gun. Very simple to pick up and play.

One of the most interesting and enticing reasons as to why I bought Gunstar Heroes was for the online play. I like having simple, quick, and easy basic games to play online. However, on Friday morning and Steve and I went to play, I was disgusted to find that we couldnt get a connection going to start a game. I was very disheartened by this, and initially thought my DNS error was acting up again. After searching on the internet, I found that EVERYONE was encountering similar problems for the PSN version (I didnt look to see of similar things happened on the 360). All I know is that this is a big problem, and they need to patch it, pronto.

The gameplay was a lot of fun. Its fast and intense, and the boss battles are a blast. If only they would fix that online issue, it would be a solid game and a must-have.

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Sony’s E3 PS3 Conference

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Posted by Rob on June 2, 2009 – 2:01 pm
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I’ll be keeping this blog active and write as I watch Sony’s E3 conference. Im very excited for it…more so than Nintendo’s. Im looking forward to seeing more God of War and hoping for some voice chat news. Sony is really behind compared to Microsoft.

-Talking about the PS2. Interesting that they are still planning to keep it going, and keep making games for it. With the price tag of $100, everyone should have a PS2.

-Uncharted 2. Lots of gameplay. Looks awesome. The first one was great, and I would love to buy it, but its still a ridiculous $40 used at Gamestop. The game has been around for a long time, it really should be cheaper by now. But I think it is one of the PS3’s best franchises, next to Resistance.  Its gonna be a must-have.

-Showing off some MAG. Thats the 256-player FPS. Sounds ridiculous. Looks good. Also looks a little more complex and strategic compared to most FPS. I like how you can be a soldier, or pilot the tank or helicopter. Very cool.

-Some PSP info. I dont really care because personally, I believe the DS > PSP.

-MGS Peace Walker for the PSP. Not only do I not care because its on PSP, but MGS 3 and MGS4 were not my cups of tea. I’ll pass.

-PSN. FFVII coming as downloadable! Im soooo buying that!

-Home. What a waste of my time. Home is insanely ridiculous and retarded.

-New Rockstar exclusive game. Titled Agent. Im not sure how I feel. I dont like GTA games because I hate the controls. I’ll have to see how this one is.

-Assassins Creed 2 looks interesting. I dont know how I feel about da Vinci creating inventions to help the main character assassinate people…

-OK, seriously?! You have a trailer for FFXIII which comes out early 2010, and then follow up RIGHT BEHIND that with FFXIV?! Ridiculous.

-The PS3 wireless controller. Looks like a black Wiimote, but has a sphere that is read by the PS Eye. Seems pretty awesome.

Click here to see Joystiq’s full synopsis of all the gaming goodness that occurred!

Now I have to leave for school, so I’ll miss the rest. Was decent, but I think Nintendo had a better, more exciting showcase.

I was disappointed the God of War III has been set back until March 2010. I was really looking forward to it. Im hoping they decide to go with including Blu-ray versions of GoW I and II with it also, seeing how one cannot play Ps2 games on some PS3’s (particularly mine).