1P Start

If you can’t wait for over the top, unbelievable and extreme to the max Star Wars action that’s like, TOTALLY UNLEASHED, then you should be happy to know that Star Wars: Unleashed is having a demo available on Thursday. The demo will hit Xbox Live and PSN, with Wii owners being left demo-less in the cold. The demo will be the level that’s been seen in many a demo video, the TIE Fighter Construction Facility.

(more…)

If there is one great question that mankind has stumbled with it’s got to be, “Why isn’t there a flipping awesome Batman game?” There may be no true answer to this problem, but the solution may come in a double dose. Not only is the Lego Batman game looking to be pretty good, but there’s a new game called Batman Arkham Asylum that holds all kind of promise for those looking for a more adult Batman game. You can check out a bunch of screenshots over on 1up.

Batman Arkham Asylum is coming out for the PC, 360, and PS3. Rocksteady Studios and Eidos have Batman in the infamous Arkham Asylum trying to stop the Joker’s evil plans. Just look at the screens for proof that this looks like a darker take on Batman than what we’ve really seen previously in video games. All I can ask for this game is it to not suck. That can’t be too hard can it?

Last week when I said that Rock Band was getting an injection of metal, I didn’t know that it was getting a double helping Rock with a captial R this week. Roadrunner Records is providing a six song selection of their artists this week for Rock Band’s DLC releases. The songs are:

* “Runnin’ Wild” by Airbourne

* “Clouds Over California” by DevilDriver

* “Constant Motion” by Dream Theater

* “My Curse” by Killswitch Engage

* “Aesthetics of Hate” by Machine Head

* “Sleepwalker” by Megadeth

This songs will be discounted for $.99 (80 Microsoft points) for a short time. When the “sale” is over in a month they will go up to $1.99 (160 Microsoft points). As a pack, they cost $5.99 (480 Microsoft points) $9.99 (800 Microsoft points).

My thoughts and the videos after the break!

(more…)

Remember Konami’s horrendous drum set? If the rumored “leaked” set list is any indication, I don’t think Rock Band 1,2 or Guitar Hero: World Tour will have anything to worry about. The list of songs after the break:

(more…)

Yeah, I know I suck. I missed last week’s “This Week in Rock Band”. If you want to see me dump on your favorite bands each and every week be sure to leave a comment. That just be what my lazy ass needs to spurn super regular editions. Anyway, this week’s Rock Band DLC brings back some more metal to a game that probably needs it. There’s the return of CrüeFest with a discounted pack of songs and a couple of tracks from System of a Down. Super sweet!

The songs are:

* “Rescue Me” by Buckcherry (CrueFest Pack #2)

* “Face Down In The Dirt” by Motley Crüe (CrüeFest Pack #2)

* “Life Is Beautiful” by Sixx AM (CrüeFest Pack #2)

* “B.Y.O.B.” by System Of A Down

* “Toxicity” by System Of A Down

The CrüeFest sequel pack is available for $2.99 (240 Microsoft Points) together or $.99 (80 Microsoft Points) per track. Nice deal if you like any of the songs. The System of a Down songs are going for the usual $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points).

My thoughts and videos after the break!

(more…)

Lucky blogs that have a lot of pull (or enough traffic) can get their hands on early copies of games like Kotaku. Their look at the upcoming Ghost Busters video game shows that the game is quite promising. Not only was their demo fun with busting ghosts, it wasn’t repetitive. One detail that I liked is that you have to wear the ghosts down before you can put them in the trap. I always wondered why it was so hard to put them in those things. The more you fight the ghosts and cause destruction, the less you get for your fee.

The one complaint that they seemed to have didn’t make much sense to me. You can’t have your PK meter out at the same time as your proton wand (the thing that does most of the busting work). This makes it more like the films though, since it requires both hands to operate those things. Anyway, I’m jazzed their impressions are positive so far.

Yeah, this pic was used before, but she’s hot.

Ghost Busters fans everywhere had a bit of a freak out when it was announced that Ghost Busters was one of the few titles that Activision was pruning from it’s line up. “Oh Noez!” everyone said, until there were announcements saying that Ghost Busters wasn’t going into limbo forever.

(more…)

The trailer for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has hit and it looks… well… it looks pretty underwhelming. The only superheroes shown are ones that you’d expect. Even more disappointing than those items is the fact that the “fusion power” doesn’t seem much more than a gimmick. I’m hoping that it’s not just a new power you get when you push right trigger and the Y button. Hell, the fact that Hulk can throw Wolverine isn’t that impressive. You’ve been able to throw Wolverine since the first X-Men Legends game not to mention the first outing of Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

On the good side, the graphics do appear to be improved. While they don’t look jaw dropping during close ups, when the camera pulls away they look fantastic and most of the game is probably going to be from that higher up perspective if its anything like the first game (or X-Men Legends).

Four more characters are joining the ranks of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, according to the panel held at the San Diego Comic Con this last week. The characters from the DC Universe are the Joker and Green Lantern. No word on which Green Lantern it is yet, but I’m holding out hope that it’s Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner. The characters from the Mortal Kombat stable that are returning are Jax and Kitana. Does anyone even like Jax? I don’t think I know anyone that really ever played as him.

Regardless, my buddy Shawn went to SDCC this year and he managed to get into a Mortal Kombat vs. DC party held at some bar there. He played MK vs. DC for about three hours and his report was that it was, “fucking awesome.” I think that you don’t really need much more than that for a preview.

I’d pretty much given hope that this would happen, but Activision recently rocked my socks with news at their non-E3 event that Guitar Hero: World Tour will work with Rock Band’s instruments as well as third party made controllers.

(more…)

The latest Ghostbusters: The Video Game trailer is up and man oh man it’s getting me all kinds of excited:

The game itself better not suck, because this has potential to be the coolest thing ever. How could it not be? It’s the unofficial Ghostbusters III with all the main talent on board (No, I don’t count Rick Moranis) and even most of the secondary types. Hell, it could almost be better than a movie, because you won’t be distracted by the ravages of age on the main actors. Dan Aykroyd’s almost more frightening than any of the ghosts.

(more…)

I loved the original Wolfenstein. Forget Doom, Wolfenstein was the first game that really got me into first person shooters. The good times didn’t end their either, Return to Castle Wolfenstein was a pretty fun trip and as one of the first XBox Live enabled games for the original Xbox I have a ton of fun memories associated with it. Now the latest issue of Game Informer has the announcement that a new Wolfenstein game is in the works. Awesome.

This new Wolfenstein’s details appear to be very similar to previous releases, except that maybe this time the hero gets to use some supernatural powers along with the usual array of standard guns. For a few more details head on over to Gaming Today.

An elite team of Grandmas are busy knitting drum silences for Rock Band 2

More details emerged on the new Rock Band 2 drums. While they are essentially the same drums as the first game’s, the new drums are reputed to have quieter drumpads that are velocity sensitive, a reinforced metal pedal (thank god), and clips for add on cymbals that could be purchased separately. It’s a bummer that the cymbals aren’t included with this set, but at least Guitar Hero World Tour doesn’t trump the Rock Band 2 drum set entirely.

But wait, that’s not all! Rock Band 2 will have another set of drums that’s called the Ion kit. The Ion kit will have three cymbals, adjustable pads, a metal frame, and the ability to use the kit as a fully functioning electronic drum kit, i.e. it’s not for just Rock Band.

If you crave more info on these drum kits, you can find all the deets in the latest issue of Games Informer or you can just go to this message board where some dude scanned the entire article and posted it. Isn’t that illegal or something?

Man it’s been damned hot here. So hot that I could barely make myself sit in front of the computer and write updates instead of looking at porn. Anyway… this week’s Rock Band DLC brings us more Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rush. The tracks will be available for As usual, the tracks will cost $1.99 (160 Microsoft points) each and are not available in a discounted pack.

The songs included in this batch are:

* “Snow” (Hey Oh) Red Hot Chili Peppers

* “Tell Me Baby” Red Hot Chili Peppers

* “Closer to the Heart” Rush

* “Working Man” (Vault Edition) Rush

You might have noticed that Working Man was already available before, well this version is a master recording with an all new special solo only found (currently) in Rock Band. So I guess that’s a big screw you to people who already purchased the song. Yeah it’s nice that they’ve finally got Rush Masters as a cover artist could never truly capture the annoyingly high squeal of Geddy Lee, but it sucks donkey balls that they’ve already released the song.

Videos after the break!

(more…)

If you are excited about more Rock Band in your life, then the songs that have been announced so far have been pretty damn exciting. What are they you ask? Well, here you go:

* “Ace of Spades” - Motorhead
* “Anyway You Want It” — Journey
* “Pinball Wizard” — The Who
* “Chop Suey” — System of a Down
* “Panic Attack” — Dream Theater or Finger Eleven
* “Give It Away” — Red Hot Chili Peppers
* “Everlong” — Foo Fighters
* “Kids in America” — Kim Wilde
* “Hello There” — Cheap Trick

These songs were seen on a screen on G4TV (see screenshot above), so they haven’t been “officially” confirmed. If this is for real though, holy crapballs is this awesome. Finally, Journey!, System of a Down, and Motorhead! I guess I know why we haven’t been getting any of these bitching songs as DLC…