News:

NFL2K5 was one of those sports games that will never get old. The graphics, gameplay, features and presentation just spoke FOOTBALL. Since EA delivered the final blow to the 2K series the football genre in the gaming industry has never been the same why? NO COMPETITION.

All-Pro Football gave it a shot and although It had a decent outing nothing and no game can replace having the NFL License and all it’s authenticity in a simulation videogame. Madden NFL football has dominated for so long but when you have technology and passion game developers can come up with ways that can still showcase great competitive nature and we are all in for a treat with the newly announced videogame from Natural Motion Entitled BACKBREAKER.
This new trailer of Backbreaker showcases all the glits and glamour that a football game should have this generation. The gameplay is really where it’s at because now football is real and you will never see the same tackle twice seriously. Some of the gameplay features are as follow.

1. Instead of drawing a line on screen to showcase a wide receivers route the actual receiver is highlighted making things more streamlined for playcalling
2. You can switch back and fourth between your primary receiver even after the ball is snapped which is amazing
3. The action is on the field not above the field so when your playing football there’s a lot of noise cancelling giving the user the feeling of being on the field.
4. Creating your team is so much fun considering you have the tools to recreate the NFL appeal and appareal
5. Online Multi-player along with split screen multi-player is incredible

This game has tons of potential going into the right direction. It will not be a Madden killer simply because the lack in popularity but for hardcore football players this game will definitely turn heads and depending on the first go round on how it sales we can all be looking at the next football to challenge Madden NFL head on.

Written By: Gerard (HipHopGamer) Williams

NEWS:

Microsoft had a killer conference at E3’09 this year and everyone jaws were dropped. The Metal Gear Rising Announcement, Project Natal, and also Instant 1080p HD Movie Streaming were all pleasant surprises. One of these announcements may not fully be accurate and that’s the 1080p streaming.

According to Microsoft being able to stream 1080p HD will not be a mass market feature for quite sometime simply because of the broadband connection power you will need to stream it, where as on Playstation 3 you buy a Blu-Ray accompanied with a 1080p TV and boom your done, sounds like a better consumer way to experience the best quality in HD.

Now in order to even stream 1080p consistently you will need a 8 mega bit internet connection but the average connection in the US alone is only 4 mega bites which is half that, meaning this feature is although a great step forward is really in it’s infancy. Now according too Microsoft when these movies start, it won’t be at top quality simply because of bit rate issues but through out the movie the quality will slowly increase, which is still no match for the consistent beautiful Blu-Ray quality.

There’s so much more to this feature that needs to be worked on and until households are fully able to utilize this, Blu-Ray is definitely the way too go because you can watch true 1080p quality from start to finish and also you don’t need a internet connection at all to do it.

Blu-Ray wins the mass market.

Written By: Gerard (HipHopGamer) Williams

Evolved combat in God of War 3:

Besides it beautiful graphics and intriguing story, God of War is known for its brutal, yet satisfying combo-based combat. Imagine if this “already flawless combat mechanic” is revamped in GOW 3…Well, it is. The combat mechanic in GOW 3 will take the battle sequences to new levels.

For example, the grab button in GOW 3 is little tweaked than the previous GOW titles. Once you grab an enemy you will now have four chooses you can chose from. If you press circle, Kratos will grab his foe, if you press again repeatedly, Kratos will unleash a fury of punches on his enemy. If you press triangle, Kratos will rip his enemy in half. If you press square, Kratos will pick up his enemy and use him as shield. If you press “X”, Kratos will pick his enemy up and use his body as a weapon to rush through a horde of enemies. Impressive right? But that is not where the mayhem stops.

Kratos will now be able to interact with his environment. Imagine facing one of the undead creatures, after you finish putting a beating on him, you can grab him, walk to the nearest wall and repeatedly bash his face into it until he’s dead. Or you can grab the enemy and throw his body into the side of the mountain to ricochet  into a group enemies. Crazy right? But it doesn’t even stop there.

Kratos will have a new move called the “grapple move” where he can throw his blades into an enemy and pull himself into them to perform a special attack. Also with this new technique, Kratos will be able to toss hi enemies to the left or right and pull the enemy towards him, sort of like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. Kratos also will finally be able to jump in the air while still holding onto his enemy. From there he can perform an air combo to finish off his foe, then target another enemy on the ground, swing his blades into him and perform a shoulder ram. 

After speaking with the GOW reps at E3, they made clear to me, that the new grapple and tweaked combo-based grab mechanic will flow seamlessly with each other. It’s one of the key elements in the game, that will keep Kratos alive against the hordes of enemies he will face.

Introducing the “Propritary Chain Technology”:

I remember playing GOW 2 wishing Kratos had a little bit more animation with his chains, so he can performed some unbelievable attacks. I personally wanted Kratos to be able to wrap one of his chains around the enemies’ neck and cut his body in half with the other. Well, it appears the good folks at Santa Monica might make my dream come true. According to the latest issue of the “Official PlayStation Magazine,” Giovanni Luis (Supervisor of the Technical Art Group for GOW 3) is introducing the “Propritary Chain Technology”. Kratos’ chains in previous titles, when unleashed followed a linear path. Now they will be able to curve. Unbelievable is all I have  to say. 

Unforgettable Boss Battles:

One of my first question to GOW reps at E3 was “Will Kratos be able to fight a Titan?” he looks at me and smile. He didn’t say yes or no, so I’m going to leave it as that. One thing I can confirm is Hades will face the mighty Kratos in GOW 3, enough said. According to the GOW rep at E3, the boss battles in GOW are going ti be epic, but he couldn’t go into that much detail. One boss battle I hope they put into the game, is Kratos’ brother. 

For those who didn’t play the first GOW let me explain. After you complete the first GOW you are rewarded with a bonus trailer, that explains the trails and tribulation Kratos’ mysterious brother. The story tells the tale of the brutal childhood of a Spartan. Children are place into two categories; The fittest and the strongest, who will be trained as warriors to defend Sparta. The frail and the weak, who will be caged and sent to the mountains to defend themselves. Kratos’ brother was on one  of the weaker children who was sent to the mountains where he died. He now waits in the depths of Hades, to seek revenge on the brother that deserted him.

GOW 3 seems like the perfect opportunity to introduce Kratos’ brother. If they do, it will be one hell of a boss battle. Please Santa Monica, make it happen.

Final comments: 

GOW 3 is already a 10 out of 10 for me. After seeing how gorgeous the game is, and how well it plays, and how it’s only freaking 70% done. I’m sold, you will have to be out of your mind not to pick this title up.

Earlier today a Final Fantasy XIII webpage went up on the Japanese Microsoft website. It isn’t up anymore, and Microsoft is saying that the Western page got accidentally loaded up to the Japanense site. Seems like bulls**t to me because you don’t just accidentally load up a page with perfect Japanese translations. I mean would it really suprise anyone if Final Fantasy XIII eventually got a release on the Xbox 360 in Japan? Not really.

Xbox Japan PR told Kotaku, “The FFXIII page you pointed out was actually accidentally uploaded onto the Japanese website during web management operations and has now been taken down. There is no change to what has already been announced that this title will be released in North America and Europe.”

Like the above quote says the game has only been announced in the US and Europe on the 360. Though with recent history and now this I bet we see a 360 version on Japanese store shelves eventually.