Grind on that!

Currently playing the SSX demo on the Xbox 360 with my girlfriend who is a long-term veteran of the series. Definitely picking this one up in March!

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Well ... Didn't see that coming

Following a successful launch, the PlayStation Vita has already proved a worthy adversary to it's console cousins taking first and second place in the UK top 40 games chart. Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Fifa Football soared straight to the top of the charts respectively, somewhat putting to rest doubts toward Sony's latest contribution. There are some interesting releases on the way for the Vita including ports for Blazblue and Street Fighter X Tekken (SFXT) making this a space to watch. Full story on videogamer.com.

It was at that point that Nathan realised he'd left his phone at home

Personally I would not have predicted the Vita to do as well as it has done in terms of these two games so soon at least. During this economic climate, a handheld that is more expensive than any of it's console big brothers at around £250 should not have done this well. Sony however, has defied logic and taken yet another mile forward in it's quest for world domination. As much as I would like to get my hands on and give it a go, I'd rather put that money toward March's big releases: Dragon's Dogma and SFXT!

The most powerful weapon in football today ... Jazz hands!

I'm now very curious to see how the PlayStation Vita develops in hardware and releases over the next few months. I'll be posting all updates as soon as they come in, until then ...

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Links to : IGN.com

               videogamer.com

New RE: Operation Raccoon City Trailer: Brutalities

Released today. I love the Resident Evil games do it'll be interesting to see the new direction Capcom have taken this one in.

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Wiill U?

Any thoughts on Nintendo's upcoming console attempt?

I know I'm a hater but I just don't like Nintendo any more. I was thoroughly disappointed by the Nintendo Wii, not so much by the actual console, but more by the games realeased for it and their lack of appeal to me. I did get excited or curious about one or two games but whenever I played them they felt more like half games or alpha releases (games in development). To be fair I didn't try many of the big title releases and that's simply because they didn't appeal to me at all. The thing that annoyed me most about the Wii was the graphics in my opinion there is no excuse, compared to the other seventh generation consoles, the Wii's graphics are terrible in my opinion.

You may think differently. If you think I'm wrong prove it! 

It's almost Friday so that's something to be excited about

Everyone likes free stuff

Head to your Xbox Live homepage for a free movie: Nightmare in Red White and Blue - a 'feature-length' documentary based on Joseph Maddrey's book of the same name chronicling the horror industry's growth and change through the laswt 110 years in America

I personally wouldn't have had this on me LoveFilm rental list but it's free so I'm downloading it anyway and now that I've watched the preview I'm curious enough to watch the rest of it.

So if you, like me, hate to miss out on freebies give this one a look, you might even learn something!

Press Start! (or play in this case ...)

Hmmm

Great, my xbox live is updating ... again

Vita

Today sees the launch for Sony's latest handheld contribution: PlayStation Vita.

Its 5 inch LED touch screen displays graphics that rival those of even its uncle the PlayStation 3- though obviously scale is an issue. Boasting hand-held gaming's first ever rear touch panel; dual analogue sticks; and the option of 3G, the Vita is set to give Nintendo's hand-held heavyweight 3DS a run for its money.

More features means a platform for more interactive gaming, this in turn means that the hand-held market - which is a very significant part of the market - which has been previously dominated for the most part by casual gaming, may see a progression to a more 'hardcore' demographic. This in turn could mean either alienating the casual gaming market in favour of a more hardcore and pro-gamer market, or a new platform for the ever increasing mid-casual (casual-core) epidemic that is sweeping through the gaming industry. The Vita is a big deal for the hand-held market and I agree that it is a step in the right direction for hh's.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of hand-helds for many reasons: I wouldn't use one at home because I've got my consoles; I don't want to worry about charging it before I use it and hate leaving the house for a long journey, taking a handheld, then getting on the train/*mode of transportation*, only to find that it's out of battery; I like to read a book when I'm travelling (which is the only time I would use it) because it makes me seem intelligent; and they give me headaches.

Also, imagine this on the tube?

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The Hawk Returns

The Band Of The Hawk: the mercenary group known as Death On The Battlefield lead  by the White Hawk Griffith whose Raiders are lead by the 100-man-slayer Gatsu, will be featured in Capcom's upcoming sandbox Dragon's Dogma.

Smack the Pinata didn't go down as well as planned

I don't know if you can tell, but I'm a huge fan of the Berserk franchise and extremely excited at the idea of being able to hack and slash through dragons and griffins while playing as my favourite sociopath: Gatsu. The ill fated allies were announced last month as news of the crossover between Capcom and Hakusensha broke, but the screen shots of the mercenaries have just come in:

I really hope that as well as the poster boys being featured, some old favourites will make appearances as well. I'll wet myself if they include the Immortal Zodd (aka Nos Feratu Zodd) somewhere in the open world

As well as featuring a demo for Resident Evil 6, there will also be a Japanese special edition that includes a statue, a bookmark, a booklet and presumably non-exclusive downloadable content. Hopefully there will also be a similar special edition in Europe, I really need a new bookmark!

Honestly can not wait!

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New Mass Effect 3 Trailer

Here is the much awaited 'Take back Earth' Trailer:

Enjoy

Try not to wet yourself

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How annoyed are you by Mass Effect 3 being pushed back in to March?

A Week in Releases Friday 17 Feb

It's Friday!!

Here's a list of titles released during this week in the UK and US:

Title	PC	PS3	X360	VITA	3DS	PSP	Wii
Alan Wake	ü
Blaz Blue: Continuum Shift Extend		ü	ü	ü
Crusader Kings II	ü
Grand Slam Tennis 2		ü	ü
Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeing Blossom						ü
Mario and Sonic: London 2012 Olympics					ü
Rhythm Heaven Fever							ü
Tales of the Abyss					ü
Tekken 3D: Prime Edition					ü
Twisted Metal		ü
UFC Undisputed 3		ü	ü
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3				ü
Uncharted: Golden Abyss				ü
Warp			XBLA
Worms: Ultimate Mayhem		PSN

Check out these links for a full rundown previous and upcoming releases:
Wikipedia
GameFAQs

Happy Friday! Can you guess who the mystery challenger is in the background?

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UFC Undisputed 3: First Hands

Truly bringing the fight experience to your living room, THQ's UFC Undisputed 3 - released Friday 17 February (tomorrow) - has continued the series' reputation of engaging gameplay combined with a sharp presentation and attention to detail.

Despite being relatively unrivalled, the exception being EA's poorly received attempt in 'MMA', Yukes' latest offering still pushed the boundaries and attempts to take the entire experience to the next level. The fighting mechanics are mostly the same as the previous games with a few additions and changes, the most notable being the new submission system that involves a cat-and-mouse type minigame.

The third instalment of the series is definitely worth a look for veterans of the previous games and also for newcomers to the franchise.

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Yukes reminding you how scary black people can be

Mass Effect 3 Demo

Fans of a certain popular Bioware franchise will be excited to know that they can get their hands on a demo for the eagerly awaited finale to the 'epic' trilogy (I use that word carefully...) through the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.

Tomorrow is the day! Tueasday 14 Februay sees the first hands on experience for the general public, so now you have something to do on Valentines day. You won't be lonesome, Shephard will keep you company... (I kid). If you can't wait till tomorrow for the demo check out this video from  nowgamer.com.

Does Skyrim finally have a contender for the consumption of time for males in statistics and polls everywhere? Will there be nearly as many memes?

Find out 9 March

Untill then ... Press Start!

It's all fun and games until Shephard loses an eye

Thank you

I'd just like to send out a quick thank you to Alex Degroot for helping me develop some images for the blog that are still being processed and to Danny Northcott for helping me gather information and content. Triumvirate Unite III

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Anti-climax much?

Soul Calibur 5 was released in Europe on Friday 3 February following worldwide releases through the week. Fighter fans from all over were excited to see what novel offerings would be brought to the table by a new incarnation of an old villian; a Spartan-styled warrior that happens to be the son of a well known heroine; and
an assassin born to nobility, orphaned by injustice and trained to become a deadly weapon that strikes from the shadows (Batman?) - Nightmare, Patroklos, and Ezio (pictured in cover art above).

It would seem however that gamers were not as excited as previously expected: gamebandits.com tells us that in it's first week SoulCal5 sold less than half the units of it's prequel, shifting around 35k units for the PS3 and a mere 7.7k on the X360. You'd think 360 users might be more grateful after getting Yoda as a bonus character for Namco's 2008 release ...

Visually SoulCal5 definitely satisfied the high fidelity necessities of next generation gaming with beefed up graphics that look so good it makes babies cry. The graphics are so good they dig up the remains of the PS1's Soul Blade, sew it back together again, bring it back to life, just to slice it's head off again! All the movements are smooth and the reaction time is as excellent as is expected of any good fighting game.

The roster is an odd situation. We want some fresh blood but we also want to be able to use classic characters and styles that we've spent so much time rolling out combos with. Rather than going down the Super Street Fighter 4 route of having an army of characters, SoulCal5 has brought in some new fighters to replace the old ones and then given them the exact same fighting style as the character they replaced but for a few alterations in the speed and power and minutely different signature attacks. Those who pre-ordered with GAME will have had the refreshing if not a little frustrating experience that is Dampierre. Dampierre is awesome in his ways, however, as those of us who jumped in to numerous battles with him discovered, his fighting style takes a while to master.

Then there's the Ezio situation... I'll keep it brief. Everyone was excited about Ezio Auditore as the guest character and we knew he would be good ... but the problem is he is too good and this will be exploited, that is all (Ezio/Ken?).

Create A Character mode has improved. Though you lack items at the beginning of the game, the introduction of creating your own portrait for your character adds another element of creativity to it and you are rewarded by seeing these portraits make appearances in loading screens like a hall of fame.

The Tower of Souls and Edge Master modes are gone and the story mode is not substantial enough to make up for this loss. The game loses appeal quickly with little longevity to keep you playing, and once the novelty facto wears off there is little else left.

It is a good game in itself and part of an even greater series of games but this instalment suffers from a limited roster, little appeal for a single player, and apparently lack of interest. Playing online is still as good as ever but that just doesn't seem to be sufficient to make up for what has been lost. Namco's Soul Calibur 5 delivered everything it promised ... but perhaps it didn't promise enough.

Read a full review at IGN.com

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Remember this!?

This Week's Releases

Here is a list of this week's releases Friday 10 February:

Title	360	PS3	PC	3DS
The Darkness II	ü	ü	ü
Gotham City Imposters	ü (XBLA)	ü (PSN)	ü
Jak and Daxter Collection		ü
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning	ü	ü	ü
Resident Evil Revelations				ü
Shank 2	ü (XBLA)	ü (PSN
The Simpsons Arcade Game		ü (PSN)
Jagged Alliance: Back In Action			ü

This list was collated from wikipedia, however it does not include Catherine which was released on Friday 10 February for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. More info to come.

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A New Challenger Has Appeared!

Welcome the The New Challenger!

As the incredibly cheesy title suggests, this blog will keep you up to date with the latest releases on major consoles, figures and reactions for these releases and news and updates in development and production of future releases. This blog will not however, as the incredibly cheesy title suggests, focus solely on fighting games but on games from all genres.

I do regret to announce however that this blog's purpose is not to challenge any internet memes however feel free to leave memes in the comments, just try and keep it relavent.

 Watch this space for an overview of the recently released Soul Calibur 5 and updates on the highly anticipated Mass Effect 3 as well as Capcom's re-imagining of their classic series with Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. Happy Friday.

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