I heard of this game through a friend via Twitter (it’s not as lame and annoying as most people make of it) some months ago, and wondered why I hadn’t heard anything about it any sooner.  Brutal Legend is an action-adventure game from the guys of Double Fine Productions, and will be published by EA.  I initially thought that this game was some shallow RPG game, button-mashing game.   But after watching one early trailer for it, I saw something more lively than a monotous RPG game.  One look at the main character (Eddie Riggs), I immediately thought Jack Black.  Watch the trailer longer, I knew no one else except Jack Black can fully give life to Eddie.

Even though the game went through some publishing issues in early development, Brutal Legend looks to be giving a wild Rocktober, as EA has given it a mid-October release date.

mmmmmmmm

Back from a weekend that was built to be a great one except for some slip-ups. What this past weekend had for me was dog-on-bone action, shades, a checkmark, and missing muscles.  Daryl had this friend (contact me if you’re interested) who’s selling sports bags, sunglasses, and other imported stuff at prices significantly lower than those being offered inside malls.  And because I have been going to the gym for a while now, I have to carry two huge-ass bags along when I go to work.  1 bag contains my work-related things, and the 2nd bag was for the gym.  It didn’t help that I had commute every single day and wait out at long-ass lines in transport terminals.  Daryl, being the thoughtful person that she is, seized the moment when  a particular bag came up for sale through her friend.  It was big enough to fit both my work and gym things, and had a specific spot where I can put my laptop in all snug and protected. And it also has space for two pairs of shoes. And if for some reason I get to play football again, it even has a space for the ball!  The bag was big enough to fit Bear Brand inside.  For those close to me, you know how fat his fatness is, so for the bag to fit him inside is quite impressive. The bag hasn’t failed me yet, and shows no signs of it.  After a long-ass day at work yesterday, I’ll be bringing the bag along to the gym only for the first time later.

The bag wearing Bear Brand

Bear Brand wearing the bag

Daryl and I also went to some mall to just stroll around and just relax as we’re away from work.  Daryl thought it’d be fun if I tried out some shades that was on display in the department store.  As a guy who wears glasses all the time, I almost never wear shades especially since it further dims my already horrible vision.  Anyway, this is how I looked like

Where's Daryl?! :p

We also had dinner at a place called Mom’s and Tina’s. It’s a bakery/restaurant that, in my opinion has to focus less on their pastries, and desserts.  Why? Well, because they’re main dishes, just plainly suck compared to their baked goods and sweets. Or maybe they could just do the opposite, and just drop serving their main dishes?  We’ve eaten there for almost 5 times already, and I have yet to be impressed by their dishes.  Therefore, on our last visit,  I decided to have a fatass burger  while Daryl had barbecue.  The burger was meh, but good enough, and their barbecue, well to be fair, had lots of meat in it and just a little fat, unlike other restaurants out there.  Then for dessert, I had some Toblerone-ish thingy. Daryl had chocolate mousse, which isn’t one of the restaurant’s best desserts, if I might say.  Here are a couple of pictures of us while we waited for our food to be served

I like this shot

Daryl, nooooo! Must... eat...

An update on Blacknail. Bristol is doing much better now as compared to her first weekend with her new family. The irritation on her skin has reduced, so she itches less often.  She’s grown up a bit now, but I wish she could be a little bit fatter and bigger because she’s a little difficult to spot when I arrive home at night.  My sister bought her this bone-chewtoy thingy, the same as Milo had which barely lasted a day!

Bitey bitey bitey

We capped off the day having dinner at a local restaurant.  I was still ruing from the terrible, terrible loss to the scum that is Liverpool.  We were humbled, as they definitely outplayed in the moments that mattered even though I still think that overall, we were the better team.  All United fans worldwide will be getting the stick after that result for the entire week, and will probably go on until the end of the season. Because then, where IT ALL COUNTS, the real reds of the League will lift the trophy back to OT, and those scousers will be left with nothing.  Oh well, at least they still have their fat spanish waiter.  Hey LiverPOO 4-1! 4-1! Yes, 4-1! That’s right, we’re still 4 points ahead, WITH a game in hand!  I’d rather walk alone!!!

I go to the gym, and somehow Daryl gets the muscles

Any guess where I went to first? Image by Joe Rollerfan via Flickr

I had just finished working out at the gym that day, and was yet to have lunch.  Unluckily for me, the mall, where the gym was in, was having a three-day sale just in time for payday.  “Damn stupid payday sale”, that was the thought inside of my head as I was frustrated time and time again in looking for some place to have my lunch.  I first went to this fast-food chain, famous for it’s fried chicken, where I was given a first blow in my search for food.  The queue to the cash register was ass-shittingly long, and even if you had the patience to wait, you’d have to wait again just to spot an empty table.   I was disappointed because I was craving for chicken, so off I went to look for other options.  I went by 2 restaurants in hopes for them not being jam-packed as the others, but this time I was faced with a different setback, their prices.  Though there where lots of tables availabe, the prices were just too much for a meal, especially in these tough times.  I’d much rather spend that much money on games anyway as I already have a long list of titles that I have yet to get. I was contemplating if I should’ve just stayed in the gym and just had a sandwich in the fruit shake bar inside.  Having lunch at home instead wasn’t an option too, as the weather outside was terribly hot.  I then passed by this small food stall, which I kept on ignoring until then.  It was situated at the bottom floor and could easily be missed if you aren’t looking specifically for it.  The store was called Belly Burst, and focused on traditional american-style meals, such as burgers with fries, buffalo wings, pizza, etc. And all, which to my surprise at a very affordable price!  I ordered this meal which had 2 burgers, fries, some pastry, and a glass of iced tea.  I didn’t like the fries that much, but the 2 dips that came along with it fixed that problem.  I know, I just worked out, so how can I eat that kind of meal?  Well it was blistering hot outside, I spent half an hour walking inside a crowded mall, and I was dead tired, so sue me!

All of these for less than a 100PHP! A good deal if you ask me

After that heavenly meal, I went to the local Toys R US to check the latest games they had.  As the whole mall was having a sale,  the store was selling its games with a 10% discount.  After a lot of “meh” as I breezed through their small selection of games, one title caught my attention, Overlord: Raising Hell.  It was an RPG, where you would summon minions to follow you in your quests. The game also offered some multi-player where you and a buddy, along with each set of minions will scour the game’s levels.  I was longing to have an RPG title but couldn’t find any title to my liking just of yet, but this game could have been the one I’ve been looking for.  However, the price of the game served no justice.  As it was Toys R US, Overlord: Raising Hell was being sold with the same price as brand new games in another gaming store in a different mall.  I just got Killzone 2 a week before, and Overlord was being sold at a price almost twice that of KZ2? No thanks man.

As I exited the store, the sight of some dude with his kid caught my eye.  He was probably going to buy his kid a Wii, as they were playing around with it.  As much as I dislike the Wii, seeing the kid so happy sparked some childhood  memories.  But then, leave it to Toys R US to ruin a Hallmark moment.  On top of the TV that displayed the game the dude-kid were playing, was a signboard for the the store’s Wii promo and it just disgusted me. Why? See for yourself

Why sell the Wii anyway? I keed, I keed :p

MODDED!  Now I don’t know how Nintendo or if they even know that they’re top selling system is being sold already modded.  I also don’t know what the mods are for.  Well I’m 90% sure that it allows whoever uses it to play with illegal copies of games.  I have seen lots of stores that sell pirated Wii games, heck, even 360 games. Now I’m sure that’s illegal right?  I couldn’t even stomach that such a world-famous store would even go to such measures.  I mean, the Wii is already selling perfectly well, now I don’t know if that is because of modded Wiis being available in the market.  Could this also be why the PS3 isn’t selling that well?  The 360, as many of us also know can also be modded, look where it is now in the console sales race.  I’m not trying to be a fanboy or anything, it just sickens me how these toy-stores promote modded systems.  If I had enough cash, I would gladly get a 360 as it does offers great games, and most multi-platform games run well on the 360 as compared to the PS3 (e.g Fallout 3).  Also, I am not against modding, as the PSP can also be modded to make full use of its capabilities (e.g Homebrew). But is it not the practice that modding a system will only be based on the decision of the consumer?  Modding should only be done at your own risk, and in no way modding means piracy.  But for stores to say that modding allows users to play pirated games is not at all acceptable. Why do people force themselves anyway?  If you can’t afford to buy games, then just don’t buy a gaming system!  I can’t accept other people’s reason that they just can’t afford to original, legal copies of games.  That is just too much of a selfish statement as they are ripping off the developers that have put in all their hard work and time to make one game.  I have spoken to a game publisher about this and his thought about this piracy issue was that we just can’t do anything about it. Sooner or later, developers will be forced out of jobs, or look outside of the gaming industry for a job.

Take a look at the sidebar and look for a familiar name

Look closer! New Champion for Tetris?! :p

Anyway, I don’t expect this “title” to last. I bet my score would have already been beaten by now. I’ll try playing again another time, but now, back to work -_-

Last Friday, I picked up Daryl at her office and we had dinner at Eastwood City.  It’s been months since I last stepped foot there, and it has been years since I last ate there.  When we got there, I could only vaguely remember the place.  I was not sure if I was picturing the same place I saw months ago or I was mistakenly compiling and recalling sights of similar places that I have been to.  Daryl briefly pointed out to me the stores that she knew.  There was this bar, Bed Space, she showed me that one of our common friends went to last month.  By the name itself, Bed Space was designed for its clients to have a relaxing time to a slumber-party drunken, disco style.  I told Daryl that places like that just weren’t the hangout place for me.  I wouldn’t want to hangout in a place so dark, and noisy with annoying house and irritating pop music.  I just don’t get it. I would much rather choose Starbucks over a place where there’s nothing else to do except to drink booze and scream your lungs out so that your friend will know that you’re going over to the rest room for a pee.

After that brief rant,  we went to the newly-opened Eastwood Mall in search for stuff for Milo, our wonder-beagle.

Milo, the wonder-beagle

We found Pet Central, a pet shop/veterinary clinic  found just beside the escalator when you enter Eastwood City Walk 2.  They had lots to offer, from shampoo to occasional doggy tricks.  When we were about to leave, some woman entered along with her huge adult beagle named Elvis.  We soon found out why the beagle was named as such.  Elvis saw a Shih tzu outside and let off this low, and loud bark, rockstar style.  We were expecting some other huge dog breed to be the one barking, and were surprised to see that it was actually Elvis.  We just found it funny when comparing Milo’s bark to be less frightening to hear.  Although Milo is still only a few months young, we just found it cute and a bit funny how pale his bark was as compared to Elvis’.

After the pet shop, we went on over to the Toy Store (ugh) to see their PS3 games.  This lady at the information booth looked at me weirdly, and almost childishly when I asked for directions.  I just can’t help but be annoyed at how people almost immediately relate video gaming to childishness.  Gaming is more physical and mentally demanding for just a childish act.  It is just as normal as reading a book, watching a movie, or playing sports as a hobby.  Why judge someone over an act that one just loves doing anyway?  No wonder gaming is such a lewd industry in the local scene.  Most plagued by the cancer killing the local gaming scene, DotA.  Anyway, the toy store had decent enough of a collection of games.  As usual, the common gimmicky Wii was there.  But they had somewhat updated titles for the PS3 too, such as Street Fighter IV, but no Killzone 2.

Off we went to Bark Avenue, another pet shop to scour stuff for Milo.  The store had interesting items for sale but for a huge price.  I was made to wonder what the 1-man crew did the whole day in a customer-less store.

We then passed by restaurants, briefly scanning their menus for us to decide what and where to eat.  We then got to this place called Pasto.  It was a nice place, simple furniture, and more importantly for me, no noise!  After a couple of pictures, we quickly noticed something wrong.  Daryl and I were wearing red, and probably because the restaurant’s interior designer believes in monotones, we appeared to be a couple of floating heads in the photos.

Our attempt to minimize the red with the help of my jacket

The next day, I went over to Daryl’s place.  We had some Spam for breakfast when we saw Milo eagerly making noises for his time to go outside.  After a brief struggle to get his collar and dog leash on,

we were finally off.  Daryl held on to the leash while I took photos.

After the long and fun walk with Milo. We then gave him a nice and cool bath.  Then it was pretty much another normal day in the weekend.  I went to the gym, amidst the hellish temperature outside, then got dog food for Milo, met up with Daryl again, then we went over to my place.  As we arrived home, we were welcomed by a cute little surprise. A puppy!

She’s a half-breed Rottweiler.  After the family’s loss of Salji and Brownie, I think it was just the right time to have their successor.  I asked for her name, but nobody was able to think of one just yet.  I was just so happy that the puppy went to me and enjoyed playing with me.  I saw that she some, not all of her nails were black.  So jokingly, I said that we should name her Blacknail!  Everyone had a laugh, and we played with Blacknail more.  And if the day couldn’t get any better, my mom said that the local gamestore just called looking for me, something about a game that they set aside for me.  I asked my mom what it was, but she didn’t know, albeit not giving a damn about it.  My sister then said that she tried to ask our mom to just give her the phone so that she could talk to the game store because she knows more about gaming than my mom will ever will in a million years, to no avail.  So after playing with Blacknail, I called the store back and found out the brilliant news!  They had set aside a copy of Killzone 2 for me, and it was their very last copy.  They said that they immediately almost ran out of copies but was able to save one for me.  I was so excited and told them that I would drop by the store the next day to pick it up.

So come the next day, it was official.  I am now an owner of the full copy of Killzone 2. No more sticking with KZ2 demos and KZ2 webgames! Woop woop! And to top it off, MUFC beat Fulham 4-0 in the FA Cup quarterfinals!  That’s what I call capping off the weekend Killzone style!

And oh yeah, Blacknail has a name now.  We decided to call her Bristol.  But sometimes I still call her Bristol Blacknail just for laughs :p

And as a bonus, here’s the pic that didn’t make it to the KZ2 competition over at the Playstation Blog:

Oh relax, this is just a joke. We would never hurt Bristol. She's the newest member of the family

Just a few days before the release of KZ2, I wonder if I could get my hands on this highly anticipated game on Day 1 (anyone care to loan me some money? :p).  I probably won’t even be able to see a copy yet in the local game stores, so I guess I’ll only be able to play it by mid-March.  So to help ease the wait, I found this webgame that allows you to blow Helghasts off your browser (literally). It only takes a quick registration and an install, then you’re ready to battle with red-glowing eyes.

And for more Helghast action, in a comical way:

On that note, MGS4, a PS3 exclusive, according to Joystiq has hit the prestigious Platinum Range in Europe.  What does this mean for fans, or for those planning to pick up the game?  With the game attaining the Platinum status, it will now be included in the discounted PS3 games.  Prices will now drop down to 19.99GBP , or roughly 1340.82PHP. The game will also be bundled with Metal Gear Online. Not a bad deal!  Now if only the game reaches the Greatest Hits status, which would mean a further discount, I’m sold!

P.S

Status of the  DISC (PSN games not included) games that I got so far :

• Resistance 2 – Beaten
• Little Big Planet – Played occasionally
• Motorstorm: Pacific Rift – almost beaten (Still a mid-grid finisher online. I suck)
• Far Cry 2 – Played RARELY (regretting to have bought it in the first place)
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Beaten

All Pics taken courtesy of Jett: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=14762103&postcount=1

• Open Arena
• Assault Cube
• Alien Arena

The succession in which I listed the games is not random, I specifically enjoyed the games in that order. I loved how Open Arena made use of the Quake III arena engine and the different characters you can play.  I chose mine to be some velociraptor-ish gunner which I named Sackboy (reference to Little Big Planet, a game I’ve definitely getting ). Somehow in the game, I found myself constantly on the lookout for Kyonshi, who I enjoyed pwning the most.

Assault Cube is a more modern type game, in which you play as humans, using real guns.  Although it reminded me a bit about CounterStrike, I just didn’t like much of the controls, and how the recoil of the weapons caused your gun to slowly point up until you end up shooting the ceiling.

I didn’t enjoy Alien Arena at all.  The futurish type gameplay just didn’t suit me.  I also hated the most, the house and techno music.  It made me want to puke as how I remember a former friend who constantly played house music, thinking he was the coolest guy in campus.

All these games can also be played in Linux, just google for the installers.  However, these games just were not up to task of satisfying my lust for FPS.

Watching videos of Call of Duty 4 gameplay on the net almost made me drool on my laptop.  Now, having found a video that shows multiplayer action of Killzone 2 is just too much torture for me.  As with the first Killzone, I am intrigued to find out if the sequel can finally live up to the hype surrounding it.  The sight of a cloaked Helghast sniper shows potential diversity of weapons and enemies in this game, and therefore will force the gamer to think of different strategies for different scenarios.  Well, to shut me up, here’s the video. Look out for the cloaked sniper :p

Just got news from the Leipzig Game Convention 2008 about Sony’s hardware releases.  Big news from Sony with their plans to release new models of the PS3 and the PSP.  The PS3 will be brandishing around a more powerful hard drive capacity of160 GB. This mammoth-like size hard drive is said to be designed to fully utilize the media streaming capabilities and the downloading functionalities of the PS3. This version of the PS3, rumored to be worth 449 euros, was also announced to be bundled with the Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune game.

The PSP 3000’s existence was also confirmed.  A built-in mic feature will be included, best for use for applications such as Skype.  Other changes such as updated buttons, and cosmetic changes are also expected.  Rumors about the new PSP to have mobile phone functionalities are still buzzing around the Interwebs, but SCEI has not confirmed on this yet.

On a personal standpoint, I am not that convinced on why I should purchase the new version of the PS3, with no significant technical differences from the 80GB model.  However, with no official price-tag attached yet, I am expecting that Sony maybe holding out to announce new features for the 160GB version, say maybe, full backwards-compatibility or even video capturing capabilities? I am more curious to see how the PSP 3000 turns out.  As I am planning to purchase a PSP early next year, I may wait to see if I should buy the new model or go ahead and purchase my girlfriend’s PSP 2000.  If the rumors are true that the new PSP will have mobile phone functionalities, I will definitely consider a buy, it will definitely be a whole lot better than that other overrated touch-screen phone, with so stupid apps that serves nothing except to let people know how rich you are.

That’s it, I still have lots of games to review. As of the moment, I have 10 titles pending to be reviewed. Maybe some time, when I manage to squeeze in more time for my gaming needs