'GTA: Chinatown Wars' headed to the PSP

(OK, for this post, you'll have to imagine that I have a monster truck show announcer's voice. Play along, OK? Thanks.)

Because one handheld system couldn't handle the intensity, the violence or its EXTREEEEEEEME nature, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is coming to the PSP! And get ready folks, 'cause it's gonna be a bloodbath!

That's right, get ready for more missions, improved graphics, and a game that Rockstar says will "take full advantage of the PSP." Looks like a biiiiig crunch to the DS.

And remember, kids get in free at Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars!* So hurry up and reserve your PSP copy today! You don't want to miss out!

*That isn't true.

An Xbox E3 Roundup

OK, so this one is going to have to be a bit more abridged, but here are some of the highlights from Microsoft.

Xbox 360

- Assassin's Creed 2 gets a November 17 release date. Trailer.
- The Beatles Rock Band is looking amazing. Harmonizing vocals, downloadable Abbey Road, awesome plastic instruments and an awesome intro video.
- Brutal Legend still looks great. Jack Black gets electrocuted and Ozzy Osbourne joins the line-up (meanwhile, Dio mysteriously disappears from it). Trailer.
- DJ Hero exists. Trailer.
- Final Fantasy XIII looking at a 2010 release date. Trailer.
- Halo 3: ODST gets September 22 release, will feature four-player co-op. Trailer.
- Left 4 Dead 2 is luckily not titled Left 4 Dead Again and will hit stores on November 17 (alongside its assassin brother listed above). Four new characters will be featured in gameplay. Extremely violent trailer.
- LEGO Rock Band looks charming, totally unnecessary. Trailer.
- Metal Gear Solid Rising is coming to the Xbox 360. Teaser trailer.
- Project Natal is revealed - it's like a Wiimote for the 360. Cool?
- Tony Hawk Ride to be played with a skateboard peripheral controller. Great Yeah Yeah Yeahs-laden trailer.
- XBLA Summer of Arcade to feature TMNT: Turtles In Time Re-shelled, 'Splosion Man, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 and Monkey Island Special Edition.
- Oh, and Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, and a special Games On Demand service were all announced for Xbox Live. Again, cool?

OK, so that's the bulk of it, folks. Any notable omissions? I ran through this really fast.

A Nintendo E3 Round-up

Hey gang, it's E3! No, I'm not in L.A., but there's something I can do. That's right, condense the information for your reading pleasure! I'll start here with the Nintendo announcements.


Wii/DS

- Super Mario Galaxy 2 is announced, but won't be released until 2010. The big difference between this one and the original? You get to ride Yoshi. Tie yourself over with this trailer.
- Metroid: Other M will launch in 2010 and is being developed by Team Ninja, the guys behind the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive games. Check it out.
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii looks charming as can be. You've got a four-player co-op mode, which can be played from what it looks like by Mario, Luigi and a couple of Toads. Otherwise, it looks like the original Super Mario Bros., except with more modes. Check out the trailer.
- Dance Dance Revolution is announced for the Wii. It's going to utilize the Wii Balance Board and be primarily fitness based. Otherwise, doesn't look too different.
- Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box for the DS gets a release date (August 24) and brand new trailer.
- Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is an RPG for the DS, which releases this fall. Here's a look at it. - Zelda Wii (which is the tentative title, I'm sure) didn't get a lot of attention, but good old Shigeru Miyamoto tells us that we can expect it by 2010 at the earliest.
- Golden Sun is announced for the DS - the first game of the series in six years. Want a trailer? Of course you do.
- Cooking Mama 3 is announced for the DS.
- Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit Plus get shown off. They're exactly what you'd expect.
- Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days will be released on September 29.
- In case you don't feel like you've gotten your Mario fix, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again will be released on June 8 for DSiWare. Check out the press conference demonstration here.
- TMNT: Smash Up heads your way on September 22.

OK, so that's all of the big stuff. We'll talk about Sony, Microsoft and all of the multiplatformers (can you say The Beatles Rock Band?) quite soon. Happy E3, everybody!

'The Beatles Rock Band' gets a trailer

And if you weren't already interested, you should probably start considering purchasing a small collection of plastic instruments.



Aren't those virtual Beatles adorable?

Quick Impressions: 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'

I don't know how they did it, but Raven Software has created one of the most enticing (if not brief) gaming experiences I've had in a long time.

It's hard for my brain to even register the idea that I liked the Xbox 360 version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But here's the thing - I loved it. It was amazing. Granted I only played one level in a hurried scenario, but it made me want to play the entire thing.



On one hand, it's unfortunate to see the otherwise fairly chivalrous and good Wolverine hack up hundreds of men, creatures and robots. On the other hand, it's so fun. The guy's got those claws for a reason. Usually, he just brandishes them, gives a mean look and then runs at the enemy right before the camera/frame cuts to another mutant fighting another bad guy. But here? Blood a-plenty.

The game utilizes everything awesome about the Wolverine character: his healing powers, his feral senses and his ever-awesome adamantium skeleton and claws. The first level of the game is one of the best modern beat-em-ups I've played since God of War.

And the lunge ability in the game? Incredible. While red shirts across the way shoot at you with their do-nothing bullets, you can lunge over at them and stab them in one fell swoop. Great stuff.

If you can rent it today, do it now. I, in the meantime, will be finding a way to scrounge the money and buy it.

Wash yourself with a Space Invader, PlayStation controller

Etsy is a wonderful place. It's the only place online that you can get a customized and hand-made James Brown mugshot cigarette holder. There are also dozens of things for nerds. Enter Digital Soaps.

Yes, Digital Soaps sells soap in the shape of video games and electronics. But come on, look at that. That's a work of art. Dare you sully it by washing yourself? The nerve of you to turn half of an SNES controller into a colorless nub.

'Aliens vs. Predator' teaser up

It ain't much, but it exists. SEGA is producing a long-awaited Aliens vs. Predator game, and today they released a teaser trailer in anticipation of the game. Just be sure to turn up your speakers as loud as possible for full effect.



Got the shivers? Me neither. But maybe if we get a gameplay trailer, shivers will ensue.

You got your 'Team Fortress 2' in my 'Super Smash Bros.'

There are a few things that instantly bring to mind my middle school days: giant T-shirts, crippling embarrassment and discomfort and Super Smash Bros. That's why I was pleasantly surprised to find this video on Joystiq this morning: a mash-up of Team Fortress 2 with the opening sequence from the original Super Smash.



The only way this could have been better? If they would've snuck Jigglypuff in there.

Sega's 'Resonance of Fate' gets U.S. trailer

I love a good video game trailer. Take Resonance of Fate, for example. It's high action, high drama and a lot of great CG effects. The problem? The music. Behold.



It's like they got a guy who was locked in his room since 1985, listening only to Van Halen, to shred a few lines here and there. Then, they added it to this trailer. What? Either way, it's an interesting looking game. We should be seeing the game in Spring 2010.

This year in games I'm looking forward to playing

It ain't easy to wade through a sea of upcoming games just to see dozens of titles that look wholly unappealing. So let's take a look at ten hopefuls for this year in video games.

1) Ghostbusters: The Video Game (June 16, all consoles) - Penned by Ramis and Aakroyd, voiced by the original cast and a theme by Ray Parker, Jr. Now if the game isn't bad, everybody's happy.

2) I Am Alive (August, PC/360/PS3) - There's no gameplay footage to show what this is going to be like, but I'm certainly excited to see what a decimated Chicago will look like. (This is assuming that this game is actually released this year.)

3) Brutal Legend (October 13, 360/PS3) - The heavy metal platformer starring Jack Black. I don't need any more information to make me intrigued in this one.

4) X-Men Origins: Wolverine (out now, all consoles) - Surprisingly enough, I'd like to take this game for a spin. It's not necessarily going to be a great game by any means, but I'm still pretty intrigued by the comparisons that have been drawn between this one and God of War. Plus, I've heard that it's actually better than the movie.

5) Batman: Arkham Asylum (Sept. 1, PC/360/PS3) - A Batman game that looks legitimately good. What?

6) Assassin's Creed II (Christmas, all consoles) - I loved the first one, so I'm really looking forward to this game based in Renaissance-era Italy. This should be awesome.

7) Rock Band Unplugged (June 9, PSP) - It's not your traditional Rock Band, that's for sure. This game is a sequel to the great Frequency or Amplitude. And on that note...

8) The Beatles Rock Band (Sept. 9, 360/PS3/Wii) - You get to play the songs of The Beatles. Sold.

9) Uncharted 2 (Fall, PS3) - Never played the first one, but I'm really curious to play both that one and this hotly anticipated sequel.

10) God of War 3 (TBA at E3, PS3) - I'm sorry, but I think I'll take the audacity to say that these games are the finest beat-'em-ups of the next generation systems. I can't wait to play this one.

Do you guys have any more to add to the list?

Dropping the ball

Hey everybody. It's me, the disappointment blogger. So I haven't been posting very frequently. Sorry about that. See, there's this bi-annual tradition that I have called finals week where I don't post very frequently.

I've realized lately two things:

1 - I don't have any time to play lengthy games at the moment. As a matter of fact, I think I might trade out my copy of Blue Dragon. There is nothing rewarding about playing that game. There's a lot of running and hitting "attack," but there's nothing about the story, the characters or the three discs that I care to explore any more.

2 - I don't have any handheld games that I particularly enjoy playing these days (on the bus and the like).

3 - I only really want to play Left 4 Dead and Peggle. Uh-oh.

So here's the plan: I'll make a list of games coming out this year that I'm legitimately looking forward to playing and post them here.

I'll be back to my hard-news-and-culture coverage later. Thanks for your patience.

Prince talks 'Guitar Hero' with Tavis

In high school, I was an outspokenly huge rock 'n' roll nerd. Therefore, there were lunch room fights that would break out between my friends and I.

Friend 1: What are you talking about? The Eagles are a great band.
Me: No, they're not a great band. They're good musicians who make OK music.
Friend 1: That's crap!

It was at this point that another friend would step in.

Friend 2: Guys! What do you think about Prince?
Me: Oh, Prince is amazing.
Friend 1: Oh yeah, I love Prince.

Prince was our middle ground, our ambassador of peace. He's an amazing artist, an incredible guitarist and an icon.

The man sat down with Tavis Smiley and talked about his life, his music and Guitar Hero.

I hear it made, like, $2 billion and they came to us and offered us a very small portion of that. But I just think it's more important that kids learn how to actually play the guitar. It's a tough instrument -- it's not easy. It took me a long time, and it was frustrating at first. And you just have to stick with it, and it's cool for people who don't have time to learn the chords or ain't interested in it, but to play music is one of the greatest things.

To create something from nothing is one of the greatest feelings, and I would -- I don't know, I wish it upon everybody. It's heaven.

Hear that? Prince wants you to learn how to play actual guitar. And he's right. Playing guitar and creating your own work is a wonderful thing.

But don't be alarmed. He's not dissing the game. He just thinks there's a better way to waste his time. To each his own. Now where are my plastic instruments?

Phoenix Wright's old foe gets his own game

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is my favorite game for the Nintendo DS. There's nothing like repeatedly yelling the word "Hold it!" into a tiny microphone while you're on a bus full of people. Hmm...I suppose that's why I get a seat to myself every day.

One of the follow-ups to the wonderful Phoenix Wright/Apollo Justice series is a game by the former villain of the games, the ever-dapper Miles Edgeworth.



As released on the Capcom Snow's Blog, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is coming to the North American DS this winter. If you want to prepare for the release, start picking up some used copies of Phoenix Wright. That's an excellent start.

'Marvel vs. Capcom 2' heads to XBLA and PSN this summer

Perhaps in my entire college career so far, one of the greatest times I had playing a video game was playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for the Sega Dreamcast. A couple of friends had unearthed an old Dreamcast, and we decided to battle Mega Man and Spider-Man.

I couldn't tell you how many times the phonetic pronunciation of the term "K.O." was screamed that day ("KOOOOOOO!"). Great stuff.

The game will be out this summer for XBLA and PSN. Excellent news for the 2D fighters? It is, indeed. I'm just excited to have Iron Man shoot Zangief with an enormous proton cannon.

Here's a video for all you lonely hearts out there.

Soundtrack to 'Braid' now available

Even if you've played XBLA's Braid for one minute, the soundtrack to it should've slapped you in the face. It's incredible.


That's why I was pleased to see that it's finally available for purchase online. As a matter of fact, why don't you listen to it right here.






Music from Braid by Sieber, Kammen, Fulton and Schatz