Back in 2007 when Halo 3 was released, it took the gaming world by storm. It sold millions of copies on its first day of release and its still the most played game on Xbox Live today. I was one of those people that bought the game on launch day and although I did enjoy it, I really didn’t see what all the hype and excitement was about and I truly believe that Bungie Games just decided to give us a slightly better looking version of Halo 2 rather than something new and unique from it predecessors.

Let’s start with the graphics. How is it that reviewer’s scored Halo 3’s graphics higher than other games, like Mass Effect and Uncharted? Halo 3’s graphics engine looked slightly better than Halo 2’s and things like the character models and environments all lacked real detail and polish and it really made the game seem like it was recycled from a last gen game.

Another overrated feature was the new Forge mode. People went as far as to call this the best level creation system in any game. But really its nothing more than a level editor, the only things you really get to add are vehicles, boxes, weapons and exploding crates. The overall editing options were very limited, which to me just made the whole experience feel lacklustre and very dull. Heck games like Farcry 2 had an actual level creator which was much deeper in terms of options than Halo’s Forge mode.

Now going into the online aspect, if you were to compare Halo 2 and 3’s online what would you really see much difference? There were no new interesting modes and the new weapons and vehicles weren’t as unique as fun as everyone claimed. There was however the inclusion of a ranking system similar to CoD4, but achieving these higher ranks felt like a waste of time because there was nothing to unlock and this made the overall sense of accomplishment absent when playing Halo 3’s online.

Now you’re probably thinking that I’m some Sony fan boy. Like I stated above I purchased Halo 3 on launch day and in no way is it a bad game. It just felt like after playing Halo 2 it was a step in the wrong direction and it received way to much hype when it was released, when really it wasn’t anything groundbreaking at all.

So what do you guys think? Was Halo 3 overhyped or revolutionary?

It’s 2009 and the gaming industry looks to have another great year in store for gamers. In a year filled with many great sequels such as Killzone 2, Uncharted 2, Halo 3: ODST, and COD:MW2 it’s easy to look past many of the new IP’s coming out this year.

Last year some of the best games were new IP’s such as Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, Braid, Little Big Planet, and many more. Does 2009 have the new titles capable of changing the industry? Yes, and here’s the list of five new IP’s that people should be looking forward to:

5. Brutal Legend

The main point of this game is to simply have as much fun as possible. The story is about Eddie Riggs, a roadie for a heavy metal band, and how he is  transported into a heavy metal and Nordic fantasy world where demons have enslaved humanity. Eddie is voiced by comedian Jack Black, so expect some laughs in this game. The thing that really makes this game stand out is the man behind the project, Tim Schafer. Schafer’s previous works include Grim Fandango and Psychonauts. Both games have won numerous game of the year awards, and Schafer is considered one of the best when it comes to making “fun” games. The game is a third person action game, and is something gamers have never seen before.

4. Alan Wake

Alan Wake is known more for it’s long development cycle rather than the product itself. The game is being developed by Remedy Studios who are known for their work on the Max Payne games. The game looks amazing. There have been a few engine demonstrations, and this game looks to be one of the best looking 360 games ever released. The lighting in the game is some of the best seen in any game ever. While details are scarce about the game, the basic plot revolves around writer Alan Wake. He arrives in a small town only to have his wife disappear, and a nightmare begins. The game is a third person physiological thriller. It is said to be open world like the GTA series. Expect to hear more details on this game at either GDC or E3.

3. Prototype

This game seems to be a hit or miss game. While the premise and gameplay trailers seem to be amazing, a person cannot forget Radical Entertainments previous video games. Though they’ve been in the industry for over 15 years, they have usually worked on licensed games. Those games have never been GOTY contenders.

Now on to the good. The game looks incredible. It’s an open world game set in a New York City environment. You play as Alex Mercer, a shape-shifter with incredible strength, incredible leaping ability, and super speed. The player will also be able to take on other people’s identities.

The game seems to have a lot of great ideas, and the engine looks great. If Radical can pull it off then gamers got a hit on their hands.

2. Bayonetta

In 2001, Hideki Kamiya changed the hack-and-slash genre with Devil May Cry 1. That game was the inspiration for games like God of War, and changed peoples standards when it came to fighting games. Kamiya hopes to have the same effect on the genre with his newest game, Bayonetta. In the game, you play as a witch who is out to track down monsters masquerading as angels. The new gameplay mechanic that Kamiya hopes takes off is the ability to kill enemies with guns on your feet. From what we’ve seen so far the game looks great. The graphics are good, and Kamiya is known for making high quality action games. Hopefully they reveal a release date at E3 for this Fall.

1. inFamous

This game continue to looks better and better as the game nears it’s release date. In the game you play as Cole McGrath, a bike messenger who one day delivers a package that changes his life forever. The package explodes, and destroys 6 blocks. Cole is the only survivor, but now posses electricity-related powers. The explosion causes anarchy in the city, and it’s up to you to decide what to do. Do you use your powers to bring order to the city or do you use your powers to do as you please? The game is a sandbox, so you have the whole city to explore.  The graphics look great, and the physics engine looks to be one of the best in the gaming world. The team working on the game, Sucker Punch, is known for their work on Sly Cooper which is a great game. At E3 2008, the game one “Best Playstation 3 Title” of the Show. This game looks to have amazing potential, and should be one of the most hyped titles of the year.

Remember the days when PS3 multi-platform titles sales paled in comparison to that of the 360’s? Those days are now gone. Further evidence of the PS3 having a monster year can be found everywhere right now. Killzone 2 sales have stayed strong and the PS3 version of Resident Evil 5 outsold the 360 version 4:1 in Japan.  As if things could not look any brighter for Sony, it appears as if Resident Evil 5 is selling very well against the 360 version in the UK.  UK sales totals for Resident Evil 5 tell us that the game is selling 55% to 45% in Microsoft’s favor. While at first the UK numbers may signal another fail for Sony, once past multi platform title sales are examined it becomes clearly evident that PS3 sales trends are changing in Sony’s favor.

Take for example Grand Theft Auto 4. On the Xbox 360. GTA 4 sold 6.88 Million copies. On PS3 the game sold 5.47 Million copies. Also lets look at Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. On the Xbox 360 the game sold 7.08 Million copies, and on the PS3 the game sold 4.05 Million copies.

Resident Evil 5 is a big profile title for both systems that will benefit both systems greatly. But the latest trend in sales is very revealing. For starters, games like Resident Evil 5 and Killzone 2 have really helped out the PS3 tremendously this year. Both titles also prove that the PS3 is starting to really get it going in the software sales department. Although software sales still may not be on par with Xbox 360, the gap is definitely closing and with this will come more third party developer support.

If you look at the example that Yakuza has set in Japan it is all too evident that in certain regions the PS3 is already the next-gen console of choice for most gamers. Yakuza sold an amazing 372,301 copies for the PS3 in Japan its first week. By comparisson Square Enix’s 360 exclusive  Star Ocean 4 only managed to sell 166,027 copies. In Japan Square Enix are game gods and if they can only manage to sell 166,000 copies of a highly anticipated game then something is wrong. The PS3 has also been Japan’s best selling console for two weeks in a row now which adds even further credience to Sony’s arguments that the PS3 is on the right track and catching steam. Add to that the imenent price drop and Sony looks as if it is all set for a major turnaround for the rest of 09.

Ghostface & MF Doom- Renegade (Chinatown Wars theme song)

Song came out recently and it sounds awesome. Oh No produced it and did a good job. I like seeing Ghost and Doom working together. I am wondering where that Colab album is. They announced they are going to make an album together, but I want to know if they working on it. This song shows that they can work together very well. On the Colab Album, Doom will probably produce while Ghost spits. Who knows, but I can’t wait to see the final product.

For years now IGN.com has been one of the most respected leaders in Gaming Journalism. Throughout the years they have brought insight to the industry and made Gaming Journalism a respected profession throughout the world. Gamers all over the world have also looked to IGN for an unbiased point of view. However, the past three years have been a mixed bag for IGN’s reputation due to accusations of the site being biased against Sony’s PS3.  There have been the occasional mix up in game-play video comparisons and the lower overall review scores for PS3 multi-platform titles. However, the most blinding example of IGN’s apparent PS3 bias has now been unearthed in their recent head to head PS3 vs. 360 video comparison for Resident Evil .

In the comparison video the reviewers pick the 360 version of the game over the PS3 version citing “frame-rate drops” as their main reason. However in their video review and the written review there is no mention of the PS3 version having frame-rate issues. The reviewers do point out that both version’s suffer from occasional screen tearing issues. But ultimately say that the issues are minor.

While the whole issue might not seem like that big of a deal to most gamers. It is a big deal to IGN’s self cultivated image of being a fair and balanced news outlet which is now being tarnished. In no other reviews that I researched for this article could I find reviewers claiming the PS3 version to be inferior. It seems as if every site except for IGN agrees that the two version’s run basically identical to each other. In every game play comparison video I watched and even playing the PS3 version of the game myself, I could not find IGN’s supposed frame-rate issues. Why? Because the issue’s are not there.

If IGN wants to continue to be one of the leaders of the industry they must stop with the PS3 nit-picking. Their latest tirade is unjust and downright wrong. It not only hurts Sony’s image, but it also hurts gamers everywhere that look to them for a solid opinion. Lately IGN has simply delivered on their reputation. If IGN truly wants to continue to be a shinning example of game journalism integrity they must stop with the popularity contest that has become their opinions and get back to being a site for the gamers.

For the sake of discussion here are some RE5 Game-play comparisons between the two versions. Does anyone see any frame-rate issues that would make the PS3 version of the game inferior to its 360 counterpart?

Always loved this one. What you guys think?

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama declared Monday that insurance giant American International Group is in financial straits because of “recklessness and greed” and said he intends to stop it from paying out millions in executive bonuses.

“It’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay,” Obama said at the outset of an appearance to announce help for small businesses hurt by the deep recession.

“How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat,” the president said.

Obama spoke out in the wake of reports that surfaced over the weekend saying that financially strapped American International Group Inc. was paying substantial bonuses to executives.

Noting that AIG has “received substantial sums” of federal aid from the federal government, Obama said he has asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner “to use that leverage and pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole.”

Said Obama: “All across the country, there are people who work hard and meet their responsibilities every day, without the benefit of government bailouts or multimillion-dollar bonuses. And all they ask is that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, play by the same rules.”

“This isn’t just a matter of dollars and cents,” he added. “It’s about our fundamental values.”

The $165 million was payable to executives by Sunday and was part of a larger total payout reportedly valued at $450 million. The company has benefited from more than $170 billion in a federal rescue.

AIG reported this month that it had lost $61.7 billion for the fourth quarter of last year, the largest corporate loss in history. The bulk of the payments at issue cover AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer.

Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, earlier Monday charged that the move to pay bonuses amounted to “rewarding incompetence.”

“These people may have a right to their bonuses. They don’t have a right to their jobs forever,” said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat.

Frank noted that the Federal Reserve Board, using a Depression-era statute, was the institution that gave AIG its initial government bailout, before Congress passed legislation providing for additional assistance and said that not enough safeguards were built into the deal.

It also was revealed over the weekend that American International Group Inc. used more than $90 billion in federal aid to pay out foreign and domestic banks, some of whom had received their own multibillion-dollar U.S. government bailouts.

Some of the biggest recipients of the AIG money were Goldman Sachs at $12.9 billion, and three European banks — France’s Societe Generale at $11.9 billion, Germany’s Deutsche Bank at $11.8 billion, and Britain’s Barclays PLC at $8.5 billion. Merrill Lynch, which also is undergoing federal scrutiny of its bonus plans, received $6.8 billion as of Dec. 31.

The money went to banks to cover their losses on complex mortgage investments, as well as for collateral needed for other transactions.

“We ought to explore everything that we can through the government to make sure that this money is not wasted,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. “These people brought this on themselves. Now you’re rewarding failure. A lot of these people should be fired, not awarded bonuses. This is horrible. It’s outrageous.”

Frank said he was disgusted, asserting that “these bonuses are going to people who screwed this thing up enormously.”

“Maybe it’s time to fire some people,” he said. “We can’t keep them from getting bonuses but we can keep them from having their jobs. … In high school, they wouldn’t have gotten retention (bonuses), they would have gotten detention.”

AIG has agreed to Obama administration requests to restrain future payments. Geithner had pressed the president’s case with AIG’s chairman, Edward Liddy, last week.

“He stepped in and berated them, got them to reduce the bonuses following every legal means he has to do this,” said Austan Goolsbee, staff director of President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Obama did note in his remarks Monday that Liddy “came on board after the contracts that led to these bonuses were agreed to last year.”

In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did not address the bonuses but expressed his frustration with the AIG intervention.

“It makes me angry. I slammed the phone more than a few times on discussing AIG,” Bernanke said. “It’s — it’s just absolutely — I understand why the American people are angry.”

In a letter to Geithner dated Saturday, Liddy said outside lawyers had informed the company that AIG had contractual obligations to make the bonus payments and could face lawsuits if it did not do so.

Frank appeared on NBC’s “Today” show and Shelby was interviewed on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Source

An Oklahoma inmate was beaten to death earlier this week after being placed in the same cell with a man he had testified against.

According to NewsOK, 23-year-old Paul Duran (pictured on the left) had fought with his initial cellmate and was moved into a different cell with 32-year-old Jessie James Dalton (pictured on the right) on Wednesday night (March 11).

15 minutes later, prison guards would find Duran beaten to death.

Duran and Dalton broke into a home together in 2002 and Dalton killed a person in the house.

Duran pleaded guilty to lesser felonies as part of an agreement to testify against Dalton.

Duran was sentenced to 28 years behind bars while Dalton was sentenced to life without parole.

Jerry Massie, the spokesman of Oklahoma State Penitentiary, said the two men were not supposed to be put in the same cell and prison officials are trying to determine how it happened.
Source

Ever since Killzone 2 was released on Feb. 27th gamers around the world have gawked in awe at its pristine lighting and particle effects. Killzone 2 is now widely considered the best looking console game on the market. However Epic Games has now announced that the Unreal Engine 3 has gotten a face lift that will include huge improvements in lighting that could rival Killzone 2. Epic has also announced that the same online multi-player system used for Gears of War 2 will be available to all developers using the engine.

“Unreal Lightmass, a new global illumination solver, will be shown for the first time at GDC. Unreal Lightmass produces high-quality static lighting with next-generation effects, such as: soft shadows with accurate penumbrae; diffuse and specular interreflection; and color bleeding. Furthermore, Epic’s new Swarm distributed computing framework enables lighting to be generated up to 10 times faster. The new lighting features are bundled with Unreal Engine 3 and benefit all current and future engine licensees. Like all of Epic’s engine features, Unreal Lightmass is available at no additional cost to licensees.”

“Battle-tested by over 6.8 million hours of online player time, Unreal MCP seriously ups the ante for game engines,” says Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. “The online infrastructure required for a modern, triple-A game represents man-years of work, and all of this is now included in Unreal Engine 3.”

Epic is planning on showing of the Engine’s latest face lift and features at this months GDC, so stay with HipHopGamerShow.com for all the latest out of GDC.