The Guildmasters

I just bought my playstation eye today, after searching for the best price online it turned out that Amazon and Walmart had the best price at $32.82, I decided to get it straight from the store as we was going out anyway so we popped into walmart and it turns out the price was $40 in store, so now the fun starts.

We argued with the store clerk that you can’t advertise a product online at one price then advertise it in store at another price, it’s not ethical. Apparently they can do that but after we insisted on speaking with the manager he let us have it for the same price as advertised online, i’m sure they will adjust it soon though.

This means that Amazon is now the cheapest price for the eye.

The playstation eye is probably the easiest thing i’ve ever had the pleasure of using, no installations instructions needed as you just simply plug it into your usb port on the PS3 system and that’s it.

If you then go to playstation store you can download Eyecreate which is a free piece of software which lets you mess around with your photo’s, it’s fairly cool.

The biggest surprise was once hooked up it made my bedroom look like it was newly decorated, it came out so clear and bright, i’ve seen worse clarity on more expensive products. The voice distorter is pretty cool too, we messed around for it like a couple of kids for about an hour, strange how when it comes to talking into a mic nothing comes to mind and you end up just making stupid noises, it was fun to act like a teenager for a bit.

The mic picks up voices very clearly and you don’t have to find yourself shouting 3 inches away from it like some i’ve had in the past.

All in all this product is well worth the money, even at $40 it would be worth it, my only downside is it’s not compatible with my pc but that’s no big deal.

Here is the product features for the playstation eye:

* A sophisticated microphone with the ability to reduce background noise and focus on spoken word for smoother, more accurate speech recognition
* Faster frame rate for improved tracking, responsiveness and smoothness
* Two position zoom lens for close-up and full body options
* Free EyeCreate editing software, which allows users to save, edit and add cool visual effects to photos, video and audio clips
* 4 channel audio input – 16-bits/channel, 48kHz, SNR 90db

Tony:)

It’s been a long few days searching for another decent new release but I think i’ve found one in Heavy Rain, actually i’m downloading this demo as I type.

I’ve just finished watching the trailer and what i’ve seen so far looks promising, there is a lot of hype about this game but I don’t usually take much notice of that, I like to see things for myself and the trailer led me to download the demo to see if it turns out to be as good as promised.

The pre-order price at amazon at the moment is $54.96 which is a saving of over $5 on the list price and there is a pre-order bonus if you order before the release date, this is Heavy Rain Chronicles: Chaper 1 – The Taxidermist which is a downloadable episode,but first lets see what the story is about:

Game Description:A serial killer stalks the city and four characters have only four days to find him before he strikes again. Spend 96 hours living on the edge in this cinematic psychological thriller. In a game that evolves like a living movie, you’ll step into the shoes of four different individuals. Each has their own leads and motives, and each desperately wants to find the Origami Killer. Little is known about your target, other than the folded paper found in the hand of each of his victims. Explore a deep and dark storyline that forces you to decide how far you’ll go to save someone you love.

I will add to this post once i’ve tried the demo, this is a PS3 Exclusive and the reason i’ve posted it early is purely because of the pre-order bonus, the trailer reminded me of Uncharted and from what i’ve read so far plays like a movie, pretty cool graphics so it good be a big hit.

Will update tomorrow after playing tonight.

Tony 🙂

Update:Well this game is a definite buy, by the time i’d walked to the end of the alley I made up my mind I was going to get this game. When Uncharted 2 came out they said it was a game which played like a movie, I wasn’t exactly sure how they would go about that until playing the demo of Heavy Rain last night, it is like an actual movie only you get to perform the moves, scenarios and dialect which takes it one way or another.

The games graphics are pretty realistic, expressions, actions, gestures all make for a real life feel to the game, just the tutorial is a basic walk down an alley but i’ve never before seen such advancement in any other game.

Halfway down the alley your confronted by a dumpster or garbage skip, the only way around it is to press a sequence of button which actually allow you to turn sideways and navigate between the wall and the dumpster, once you pass the dumpster, a small way forward and the rain starts playing with your characters asthma, by hitting one of the front buttons you can actually hear what your character is thinking, at this point it’s about how the rain makes it difficult for him to breathe, this in turn encourages you to use the analogue button to retrieve your inhaler from your right pocket, then with a shake of the sixaxis controller he shakes the inhaler before using it, using the right analogue to lift it to your mouth and pressing R1 to push on the inhaler and saving yoiurself from the unpleasantness of an asthma attack.

That was just the tutorial to get you used to the controls, the way the characters move and behave are very realistic, I played it in front of my 3 eldest sons and they was mesmerized by it’s movie like behaviour, they didn’t know if I was controlling the character or if it was a cut scene, it’s really that good.

The story line is excellent and you really get into it in a big way, I played the whole demo which is free to download on playstation store and it’s really worth the wait.

I actually played the demo 3 times and there is a scene where you have to fight a guy who likes to beat up on women, all three occasions I fought this guy it was different each time, I even ended up in 3 different areas of the apartment when the fight was over.

The controls are really put to use in this game, R2 to walk and lots of use on the analogue buttons to perform many different actions sounds difficult but after just a few minutes feels almost natural.

That’s my update on Heavy Rain for now but don’t take my word for it, download the demo free on playstaton store and see for yourself, you won’t have seen anything like this before, this is going to be the way forward in games and I expect to see many more games in the future playing like this, it’s really amazing.

Tony:)

Well I decided to try a couple of the PSN download games and being a fan of pinball I decided to try this one, the full game is $9.99 which is a little on the expensive side for me but at least it is the full game and you can play online and it is trophy enabled.

First the machines, they are about as realistic as you could expect to find in a game, very smooth, lots of features once you understand them and where they are and very fun to play if you like pinball.

The one i’m concentrating on at the moment is El Dorado, because i’m going for the trophies it means really playing the machine, understanding the angles and knowing what the features are, i’ve only got two of the trophies on this one and there are at least four trophies that I know are going to be extremely hard.

Downside is it doesn’t look like there is a platinum trophy which is disappointing as if any game deserved one it should be this one. There are 24 trophies in all made up of bronze, silver and gold and i’ve managed to pick myself up 6 of those, all being bronze.

There are four machines in all and i’d say it’s only worth buying if like me your waiting on other games to come in the mail and you really want a go at some very hard trophies, it goes without saying you would have to be a person that appreciates the pinball game or your going to get fairly annoyed pretty quickly.

Overall this game is easily a 9/10 as it runs very smoothly, the balls act very naturally like a real pinball machine, the features are pretty awesome once you learn how to get them and it runs seamlessly, no glitches from what i’ve seen so far and a nice break from the norm, there is a free download demo of the El Dorado table and you can play that up to two and a half million points to give you a feel of how it plays if your thinking of buying this.

Zen Pinball: available from the playstation store on PSN

If anyone else has played this one i’d like to hear if you managed to get all the trophies, still waiting on Borderlands, seems by the time I actually get it number 2 will be out, lol, it’s obviously popular.

Tony:)

Ok I know this game is already two years old but I only got this one a couple of days ago because after doing a search online for the game with the most ps3 trophies it turned out to be Burnout Paradise.

At less than $20 it’s not a bad buy, another break from the norm I know but a fun game and a mindless sort of pleasure out of racing and smashing into other cars, it’s pretty realistic and there are a ton of road “quests”, time trials, takedowns, marked man and many more.

You have to work your way up through the licenses, you start off a beginner and via racing, smashing and taking off ramps you gradually upgrade your license, this will be a good game when you’ve spent days on a really decent RPG and your stuck on something and need a break for a day or two before returning to it.

I am disappointed in a few things about this game, sure it’s cheap enough but if your trying to do what I was and get all trophies then it’s going to cost you more. I attempted to play online and even though it let me register I couldn’t actually race online unless I purchased the Big Surf Island, that’s another $12.99 then there are tons of different cars to purchase ranging from $1.99 up to $5.99 and other party packs at another $12.99, basically if you wanted everything in this game it would cost a small fortune. I’ve always been against high price download content and I understand it from a marketing point of view as well as additional income from an already established game but there comes a point where I just think that some companies are just completely taking advantage, that’s my own personal opinion and not everyone shares this and that’s ok.

I have found out that if you purchase just the Big Surf Island it is possible to still achieve all trophies but I haven’t confirmed this, I just wanted those to know who haven’t yet played this and wanted it for the trophies you won’t get them all without some extra cost, some won’t mind but for me it’s another downer.

With good points and bad points overall the gameplay is great, tons of quests and stuff to do, you can acquire 75 vehicles some of which are awesome and up to 4 bikes but that’s it unless you purchase, there are cop cars, legend cars etc..There are 5 people in my household which play games and all 5 of us ranging over 3 generations enjoyed playing this one so that’s something.

I wouldn’t have played this game if it hadn’t initially been for the amount of trophies I saw listed, about 98 I think and it came pretty quick in the mail instead of Borderlands which I was expecting, i’m glad I had the chance to play it though, it’s great fun.

Tony

Ok my latest exploit isn’t my usual RPG, in fact it’s not even an RPG, it’s a shooter. Now don’t give me a hard time on this, hear me out ok.

I was waiting for Borderlands to turn up and in the meantime i’d added some games purely because they had trophies, I am a bit of a trophy hunter and I think it’s a decent feature on the PS3 system, I actually get a kick out of seeing those pop up trophy messages in the top right hand corner of the screen, it’s like acknowledging that you’ve actually achieved something, like a pat on the back for doing a good job.

Anyway one game which was added to the list was a hunting game called cabela’s outdoor adventures 2010, now I already see the criticism but it was initially put on the list first because it had trophies and second because a couple of my boys wanted to play it too.

So, while waiting for Borderlands to show it’s face this Cabela’s turns up first, so I give it a go, and yes, you guessed it, it happened to be a half decent game, not my thing at all but it was a bit of fun, really.

It actually only took me around 8hrs to complete the main story mode and another 2 hours to complete trophy mode, which makes it one of the easiest games to achieve a platinum trophy for your PS3 collection if your a trophy hunter.

Ok a bit about the game, at best for those like myself it’s a break from the norm, a bit of fun and I think if it was any longer than it was it wouldn’t have been enjoyable, sorry to those fans of Cabela’s that wish they were longer but I think the balance was perfect.

You get to go through four states in america to hunt pretty much every creature you can legally hunt, you gain access to a wide variety of rifles, shotguns and even a couple of bows (which was fun), a hundgun and some special accessories which make the hunt that much easier, a treestand to shoot from up high, some bear and deer scent to attract the beasts your going to kill, some cover spray so they can’t detect you so easily and so on.

The story mode is fairly straightforward and you can’t wander off too far without a tree blocking your way or water you can’t cross so you will always come across the animal your supposed to be hunting.

Most of your PS3 trophies you will obtain by following the main quest but there are a couple that you could easily miss, like one trophy is for killing animals with each weapon, sounds easy but it’s easy to forget to change your weapon that you just recently unlocked, so as you obtain a new rifle or shotgun then try to use it.

Another trophy which seemed easy enough was use iron sights only, well I looked and looked and couldn’t find no iron sights, what it actually meant was take the sights off the gun so you just use the iron sights of the gun.

All in all a pretty good game, enjoyable, not too long that you’d get bored of it, a decent bit of fun and another platinum trophy under your belt. Not a buyer unless you really love these kinds of games but a definite rent.

If anyone decides to give it a go and gets stuck just let me know and i’ll help you out as there are about two or three hidden areas which could be easy to miss, mostly on the opportunity hunts.

After playing this one i’ve decided to add Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2010 to my rent list as this one has over 50 trophies too, I think secretly i’m actually looking forward to playing it.



Keep your eye out for my review of that one, hey, I gotta do something while i’m waiting for the good stuff to turn up.

Tony 🙂

I know I said I would find better ps3 bundles before christmas but it turns out there are better ones out there now.

Since christmas and the new year has come and gone there are better deals as sales take a downward turn and here is the latest ps3 bundle offer for those who acted wisely and saved their money.



This bundle is quite amazing really and I can’t tell you if it’s a limited time offer as yet.

You get to choose your console and yes there is a choice, remember the 250gig ps3 I wrote about a while ago? That’s the choice, either the normal 120gig or the 250gig which i’m sure a lot of people have been looking forward to. If you choose the 250gig you have to add an extra $50 though, let’s face it it’s worth it.

You also get to choose an extra controller and there are four to choose from, the sony dualshock wireless controller in black,red,silver or blue. I’ve updated this part as at first this didn’t seem like a good deal, what makes it worth it is you get an extra controller and it’s my personal experience you need at least two to get the full value out of some of the ps3 games.

You get to choose your game and it’s not just a couple like you would normally expect, 57 in total, although some require an extra $10 added and some an extra $20 added, the reason is probably to give you more choice in the bundle instead of being landed with a game you don’t really want.

My recommendation if you don’t want to pay any more extra would be either fallout 3 or resident evil 5. If you don’t mind paying an extra $20 for a more recent game then you can pick uncharted 2 or call of duty modern warfare 2, I’ll list all 57 at the end of this post and put the extra price too.

Then you have the accessory to choose with your bundle, the accessory available without paying any extra is the sony blueray remote.

If you want to pick one of the other four accessories then it’s extra so I would recommend sticking with the remote, I paid $20 for mine and it was worth it.

So total price is $399 if you choose the 120gig console, the controller color of your choice,one of the slightly older games (which are still cool),and the ps3 remote, that’s pretty good, I wish i’d have had that much choice when I bought mine.

The only extra I would say is actually worth it is the extra $50 for the 250gig, especially if your like me and enjoy the trophy hunting and messing around in the playstation network/home.

Ok here are a list of the games available in this bundle:

1. Skate 2

2. Star Wars:Force Unleashed-Ultimate Sith Edition

3. Fight Night Round 4

4. Cars: Race O Rama

5. Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2010

6. Dark Sector

7. Fallout 3

8. Cabela’s Outdoor Adventure 2010

9. Overlord: Raising Hell

10. Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm

11. Socom: Confrontation – Game Only

12. Madagascar 2:Escape 2 Africa

13. Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires

14. Resident Evil 5

15. Baja 1000: Off-Road Racing

16. Call Of Juarez:Bound In Blood

17. Mini Ninjas (+$10 )

18. Need For Speed Undercover (+$10 )

19. Saints Row 2 (+$10 )

20. Star Wars:Clone Wars-Republic Heroes (+$10 )

21. Disney Sing It: Pop Hits With Microphone (+$10 )

22. Bakugan: Battle Brawlers (+$10 )

23. Spiderman: Web Of Shadows (+$10 )

24. Sonic Unleashed (+$10 )

25. Prototype (+$10 )

26. F.E.A.R. 2:Project Origin (+$10 )

27. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (+$10 )

28. Harry Potter: Half-Blood Prince (+$10 )

29. G.I.Joe: Rise Of Cobra (+$10 )

30. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (+$20 )

31. Dragon Age: Origins (+$20 )

32. Assassins Creed 2 (+$20 ) This was a great game, gave me my first platinum trophy.

33. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 with bonus unlockable walmart exclusive code (+$20 )

34. Madden NFL 10 (+$20 ) Huge game this one, never seen so much in one sports game, my son will be writing a review shortly, if he can leave it alone long enough

35. Tekken 6 (+$20 )

36. Little Big Planet: Game Of The Year (+$20 )

37. UFC Undisputed (+$20 )

38. Fallout 3: Game Of The Year (+$20 ) This is the one worth getting as each of the DLC is $10 a piece on playstation store and there are 4 of them.

39. Borderlands (+$20 )

40. Call Of Duty: World At War (+$20 )

41. Dirt 2 (+$20 )

42. Tekken 6 with bonus walmart tattoo arm sleeve (+$20 )

43. Wet (+$20 )

44. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 with bonus comic book (+$20 ) we’ve all seen how marvel comic books increase in value (only if you look after them)

45. Wolfenstein (+$20 )

46. Dragonball: Raging Blast (+$20 )

47. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (+$20 )

48. Batman: Arkham Asylum (+$20 )

49. Resistance 2 (+$20 )

50. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (+$20 ) One of the few which are worth an extra 20

51. NCAA Football 2010 (+$20 )

52. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (+$20 )

53. Need For Speed: Shift (+$20)

54. Fifa Soccer 10 (+$20 )

55. NBA Live 2010 (+$20 )

56. NHL 2010 (+$20 )

57. Brutal Legend (+$20 ) I played the demo for this and it was quite funny and amusing with a pretty cool storyline, dude you gotta try this one.

Ok that’s all of them, I cannot guarantee these items will remain available, all this information was correct at the time of posting.

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT MANY OF THESE GAMES ARE RATED MATURE WHICH MEANS YOU MUST BE 17YRS OR OLDER TO PURCHASE.

Tony

Dark Void is an action adventure game released on PC, PS3 and XBox360. With next gen shooter games things are just getting better and better, here is the game description:

Enter the Void, a mysterious gateway between two worlds. Play as Will, a pilot who joins a group of humans trapped in the Void, fighting against an alien race out to destroy the Earth. Fire up your jet pack and soar through a sprawling world where the assaults comes at you from every direction. Seamlessly move between air- and ground-based play as you sabotage enemy ships in mid-air, cling to walls in vertical battles fought a thousand feet up, and much more.

If shooters and/or action adventures is your choice this could be for you, at the very least it’s worth a rent.

Tony

Pre-order price of $49.82 at amazon

Release date:January 12th

* Experience the thrill in first person – Feel the speed and adrenaline of the athletes at the Olympic Winter Games at each Olympic venue; hurtle down mountains, ice runs, over jumps and around ice rinks
* 14 premium events in which to claim gold – Including giant slalom, snowboard cross, downhill and bobsleigh, every event focused on speed or danger, and most on both
* Fine tune your skills in a range of challenge modes – Such as Smashing the Snowmen’ and Speed Bands’ in a first for this kind of mode in an official Olympic title.
* Take your snow boots online – Set a new world record and see if anybody can knock you off the top of the leaderboard
* Defeat your friends online or in the front room – Earn the ultimate bragging rights in up to 4-player split-screen action, or in online head-to-head competition

Game Description:Tackle the giant slalom, bobsled, downhill, snowboard cross, and more as you make an adrenaline-charged race to glory. Gear up for the games in lighthearted challenge modes, the first for an Olympics title. Then check world records online or try not to be the athlete left off the medal stand in four-player split-screen races.

Tony

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