The Guildmasters

Another highly anticipated game of the new year is Bioshock 2, for those who remember the first Bioshock it was an amazing game, great story excellent gameplay and graphics, it was a delight to play, engrossing and addictive, so can the second Bioshock match up to it’s predecessor?

Ok if you really enjoyed the first Bioshock let me tell you this, don’t bother reading reviews of people that have played the demo, don’t play the demo, just buy the game, you won’t be let down I promise you that.

Because of researching new games of 2010 I have actually seen the trailer, demo’s being played and reviews by people who have had sneek previews and demo’s and it’s almost impossible for someone to write something about this new instalment without giving plenty of spoilers.

It’s going to be a great game, yes better than the first, here is the game description and yes you can pre-order it from amazon as usual, Bioshock 2 is on xbox360 and PS3

Game Description:

Ten years after the original descent to Rapture, BioShock 2 takes you back to the underwater city as a Big Daddy. Rapture has a terrifying new ruler who’s grown from a forgotten Little Sister into the city’s most powerful being. Fight through dark city hallways as a Big Daddy, an armor-suited protector of the Little Sisters. You’ll have the option to harvest their genetic modifications or keep them safe. Experience a haunting new storyline with flashback missions, new weapons and plasmids, new multiplayer modes, and more. This time, you’ll be able to use weapons and plasmids simultaneously, and even create plasmid combinations.

That’s as much info as i’m willing to post on this game, there is tons more but it’s not for those who are going to get this game anyway.

The Bioshock 2 Special Edition is priced at a high $90 but you get an art book, posters, audio recording and more, or you can go for the regular price of $54.98

Tony
Actual contents for the special edition Bioshock 2 for the PC includes:
* BioShock 2 for PC
* Vinyl 180g LP with BioShock orchestral score
* Audio CD with BioShock 2 orchestral score
* Three vintage Rapture advertisement posters (rolled)
* BioShock 2 Art Book, 164 pages and hardcover

Well i’ve just finished playing the demo for this game and although this is not usually my type of game I thought this one was unusually addictive.

The graphics were fairly stunning, the gameplay was very realistic which is not always the case with these type of games. Considering it is a shooter I found myself wanting more of this and will at the very least rent this one.

You definitely need a partner who knows what they are doing and you both pretty much need to be on the same wavelength or your not going to get the full enjoyment or potential from the game.

There is a ton of weapons and also the option of customization for a price, and getting into the role of mercenary will see you wanting to experiment with these. From decent shotguns to diamond studded grenades it’s all in there to add to your arsenal.

Here is the game description, and if your a fan of shooter games you won’t be disappointed, and as usual you can pre-order from amazon:

Co-op is once again king as the Army of Two returns to take on a whole new enemy. When Shanghai is hit by an epic disaster, some might call it a case of “wrong place, wrong time.” For Salem and Rios, the Army of Two, it’s a case of “right place, wrong time” for whoever is responsible. Fight your way through a city under siege with a constant AI or co-op partner as you pursue the truth behind the disaster. New moves have been added to your co-op repertoire, giving you more ways to collaborate as you battle enemies and work to keep each other alive.

On both PS3 and xbox360 release date is January 12th 2010. You can download the demo on the PS3 at the playstation store, it’s well worth the look even if your not a shooter fan, I enjoyed it.

Tony

One of the many soon to be released and highly anticipated games coming in the new year is Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction.

For all those Splinter Cell fans here is the game description:

Conviction doesn’t just re-invent the Splinter Cell franchise. It threatens to redefine the entire stealth-action genre with revolutionary new gameplay mechanics! Sam Fisher is now a rogue agent, betrayed by his former agency. You’ll work outside the law to prevent a terrorist attack, and you’ll do it in all-new ways with a Mark and Execute System. Lurk in the shadows and mark your target. Then burst from the darkness with a flurry of bullets, eliminate your enemies, and disappear again. If you’re spotted, work back to cover using a Last Known Position System, a ghostly outline that marks your last location in the eyes of your enemies.

With the release date expected to be the end of February the disappointing thing for me is that it only seems to be available on the xbox 360 and seeing as i’m strictly a PS3 fan it looks like I won’t get the chance to play this latest instalment of a fave of mine for a while at least.

By UBI soft Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell : Conviction will be released on 23rd of February 2010 and as always you can pre-order from amazon.

There are two types you can order, the standard edtion or the limited edition, the special limited edition includes content and items that won’t be found anywhere else according to amazon.

Standard Edition is $55.99 and the Limited Edition is priced at $69.99

Will be posting some more games for release in 2010 over the next few days.

Tony

In recent weeks i’ve heard a lot of speculation about wether or not Sony will charge monthly fee for the Playstation Network.

My own thoughts on this is that I believe that would be pretty unfair, one the playstation network was one thing that kept Sony apart from other money hungry companies, Sony fans (especially myself) breathed a sigh of relief when signing up for PSN to find out it was free.

We know this could be a big extra profit for Sony should they go ahead with this idea but it isn’t necessary when you think about the amount they already make from game add-ons and so forth.

In the middle of a recession we are already switching to renting games instead of buying simply because we love playing the games but cannot afford them, you need to give something to loyal supporters that basically got you where you are.

I checked the playstation store out a few weeks ago and that great game fallout 3 had four add-ons, each was $9.99, that’s another $40 on top of the price of the game so you can’t tell me introducing yet another fee for PSN would be anything but pure greed and I never expected that from Sony.

When you visit PS Home you can already spend real cash at the virtual stores so there really is no need for a monthly fee, not to mention the amount of potential customers you’d lose by doing that.

For me there is nothing worse than paying for something every single month, I don’t like paying extra for add-ons on games i’ve already spent $50 or more on but without a doubt there is a market for it, even though I don’t like it i’ve bought add-ons myself.

Sony if your listening to your loyal fans that have stayed with you because you are the best ( i’ve had a ps1, ps2 and now ps3, as well as many other sony products) then please stay away from charging a monthly fee for PSN, it just makes sense from a business angle and from the view of playstation fans.

You can only get away with charging over and over again so long, sooner or later people are going to say enough is enough. You can’t get blood out of a stone people.

Well that’s my gripe for the day, and just in case a Sony man visits i’ll tell you this. I managed to talk all four of my sons out of buying the xbox360 and to go for the PS3, the deciding factor was simply the fee that microsoft charged for online game play, we struggled to afford the new systems and have to rent games before we buy so we don’t waste money, let’s face it who can afford to especially now, please bare that in mind when making your decision.

Feel free to add your pennies worth.

Tony

Hi again,
Time really gets away with me, been a while since my last post and that wasn’t my intention but with Christmas being such a hectic time of the year I just haven’t had the chance.

I will be posting some more new games over the coming days which are due for release in January and also give you all a heads up on new releases coming after that.

I haven’t had much time for playing much over Christmas although I did get to play a few hours on Madden NFL 10, it’s not my kind of game but if your a sports fan this game is probably as realistic as it gets.

I was talked into playing it with my son Eric who absolutely loves the game, there are loads of features in this game of american football, I just wish I could understand the game, especially the rules, it was good fun to play along with one of my boys though.

You can buy and sell players, upgrade them as you work your way through the leagues, there are mini challenges which can earn you extra points or players etc..

With me being a strictly RPG gamer it’s hard for me to give a sports game any credit at all so if I had fun playing this game then a sports fan would almost definitely want this one in their collection.

Well i’ll wish you all a happy new year and look forward to posting much more in the days and weeks to come. I will be frequenting PS Home as usual if anyone wants to pop over and have a game of poker so I will see you there.

Tony

I didn’t want to write a review on Assassins Creed 2 until I completed the game 100% which is the reason for the delay. Played on the PS3 system i’ve achieved 100% of the whole game including all trophies, collected all feathers and treasures, found all six assassins tombs and unlocked the extras from UPlay.

As always I started out by renting the game but by the fourth day playing I decided to pay the keep price because it was that good.

I’ve got to say this has been the most satisfying game since Resident Evil 5 and Oblivion, I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game and even when I only had 3 of the 100 feathers to find it didn’t become frustrating, I actually enjoyed travelling back over previously played areas taking my time trying to find them.

Playing Assassins Creed 2 has actually made me put the first one on my rental list as I never played that but I now want to play it just to find out how the previous story played out.

This is not a lengthy game, you could probably complete the main storyline quests in a few days, but this is one game that would actually make you feel like you cheated yourself if you didn’t complete everything, it is that kind of addictive play again and there are extra rewards for completing most of parts that are not essential, you don’t have to collect all 100 feathers but if you do you will be rewarded when you get 50 and again when you reach the 100 plus you’ll get the relevant trophy/achievement.

There is so much I want to tell about the game but it would definitely spoil it for those who haven’t had a chance to play this game yet.

Without spoiling any of the story I will say that there is some amazing graphics in this game, the buildings, the countryside, water, people are all very much as real as it gets when it comes to gaming.

There are a total of 22 weapons in the game all of which you’ll want to collect and show off in your villa, there are many different moves you can perform as an assassin such as a kill from below, a kill from above, a kill from a hiding position, disarming an enemy and using their weapon against them, you can steal money by pickpocketing in a crowd and even search dead bodies to recover items and money, you can throw your enemies bodies from high buildings or just hide them in haystacks or throw them in the water, you can dodge, run, walk, climb, jump, hang, throw knives, either singularly or multiple knives to kill two or more enemies at once and much more.

You can ride horses outside towns in the countryside, steal or borrow boats to travel the waterways and talking of riding horses, anyone who has played Oblivion and thought it was cool to ride a horse, horses are so lifelike in Assassins Creed 2 they make Oblivion’s horses look plastic ornaments, the movement is unreal, I spent nearly an hour riding when I first got on a horse and had to call everyone in the house in to check it out, the horse neigh’s, rears up, turns, gallops and will even throw you if you run into a crowd.

This is one of the few games I recommend buying and it’s one of the few that is actually worth the price.

If nothing else you should at least rent this one, I rent my games from gamefly and if you decide to pay the “keep” price it’s usually a little cheaper than buying from a game store, you can check my

gamefly review out here,

well worth it with rewards thrown in if you stay a member.

If you want to buy the game you can purchase it from amazon which I again recommend and I use myself. You can check my thoughts on

amazon here

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Hi all,
I’ve been messing around in the playstation home and for those who haven’t tried it out yet it’s pretty cool.

There is quite a lot to do there and more people than I expected hang out there, so what’s so special about playstation home?

First of all you have to create an account, it’s free (at the moment) and you just need an email address, it’s only for ps3 owners and it’s a fairly unique experience.

Once you sign up, you have to download the playstation home, then you will get your own crash pad which you can decorate to your liking, wallpaper, furniture, it’s all pretty basic to start but as you play games you can earn some cool stuff to put in your pad.

One of the things I did was play resident evil 5 and it gave me three of the character figures to put in my home at playstation home, they look pretty cool too, since then i’ve unlocked quite a bit of other stuff by playing games at playstation home.

There is a mall, theatre, bowling alley and much more, I even played a game of golf which won me a model boat and a t-shirt, not real, these are virtual products for your playstation home, there are tons of other ps3 owners there so most will have at least one thing in common, you can start your own club and buy upgrades for your playstation home, like a penthouse suite but these require real money.

Another cool thing is some items are rare and the latest news is that some of these rare items are actually being sold on ebay, a reaper outfit sold apparently for $66, how that works is you get redeem codes for certain things for playing certain games, the code is only redeemable once so if you want to sell your code you can, i’m not sure if it’s meant to be used like that but if it’s your code and you want to sell it you can make some money, cool eh?

I’m going to play some texas holdem poker at the EA sports section to try and win a bracelet for my apartment so if you want to pop over and try the playstation home out come and give it a go.

Oh yes and by the way, please forgive me if I don’t talk to you as I don’t have a headset or a keyboard for my ps3 yet so i’m not ignoring you ok? If I get enough people start to hang out at The Guildmasters then i’ll consider starting a club at playstation home, oh and another thing, you can even invite people back to your pad, how cool is that?

Pop on over and check it out, and if you notice me say hi, see you there.

Tony

Yes I knew you’d want to see the proof so here it is, computer choppers has come up with the ultimate gift, and this baby starts at around $5,000 and yes I did say starts.

I won’t complain no more about paying $400 for my PS3 , and in case your wondering i’m not affiliated with this company, just thought i’d show everyone this latest addition to gaming, I suppose there are some who would buy such a product, I don’t think I would be one of them even if I could afford it. It’s not going to play games any better, in fact if I owned something like that i’d keep it in a glass display case surrounded by lasers, lol.

Your thoughts on this one, please.

Tony