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Just got news from Wired that the Blu-ray version of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete will be released in Japan on April 16th. There will be two versions, the regular edition will come with the movie only and one that will be bundled with the long awaited Final Fantasy 13 demo. The regular version is approximately $54 where as the bundle will be an $11 extra ($65).

Here’s the problem, I don’t really care if people in Japan are paying much higher than us for DVDs and Blu-rays. Not that I can do anything about that anyway. But at the $54 price point I can get 2 Blu-ray movies. Square Enix might as well release only the version with the demo bundled with the movie because for a mere $11 extra, we get a first taste of FF13, which by the way is delayed until 2010. Hopefully the prices will be adjusted when they hit American.

If I do decide to, which I probably will for the sake of the demo (assuming there are no price adjustments), pay so much for the decent-but-not-great movie, I might as well fork an extra 20% to get the demo. For your information, the Blu-ray version of Resident Evil: Degeneration which I recommend checking it out, is only 32.99 +tax on Futureshop and 34.99 +tax on BestBuy.ca, which is still expensive but acceptable.

Sigh, looks like I need to start saving up.

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Gametrailers.com has released several jaw-dropping trailers for Killzone 2, the long awaited first person shooter that will be, based on both Gametrailers.com and EBGames.com, released on Feb 27th. If all goes well, this will be the first game to get in 2009 for PlayStation 3.

This trailer shows off some amazing game plays as well as giving us a glimpse of piloting a walking tank with rocket launcher and machine gun for some crazy destruction. Although its a “cam” version, you can still no doubt see this game is pretty high quality. From the, in my opinion, realistic enemy deaths, to extremely detailed environments. But one question still haunts me is how good the AIs are going to respond to you and the environments, from what I can remember from previous trailers, the AIs are somewhat dull and stupid. I certainly hope I am wrong!

This one called Ballet of Death, also a “cam” version shows off how enemies die in a very artistic way with classy background music. You can see the death animations are nicely designed in slow motion.

And finally the amazing cinematic intro

There are many people saying Killzone 2 is going to be the Halo killer. While I believe this game is going to be blockbuster, unless something goes wrong….again, where a game cannot live up to the hype it generates. Either way, I won’t quite call it a Halo killer, since Halo its just as amazing and so its more like the PlayStation 3 version of Halo. Come to think of it, then it becomes somewhat insulting to all the PS3 fans in my opinion if I put it that way. Therefore I’m going to simply leave it as PlayStation 3′s own blockbuster and exclusive first person shooter. Can this be one of the signature games for PS3? I guess we will have to wait and find out when the full version comes out or if Guerrilla decides to release the rumored demo.

Movie source: Gametrailers.com

Ever since I saw the Snake and Sephiroth Sackboy plush dolls from Gametrailers.com, I had been wondering where these or any Sackboys are being sold. Play-Asia came to mind immediately and they actually have them but unfortunately they are “Out of print / Out of stock“. And they don’t have a huge selection either and all the plush dolls have the same skin color and differ by a few little things like an eye patch or sunflower hat etc.

The next place was ebay, hoping someone managed to get their hands on some, either through import or from Japan. And I got empty search results.

Come on, I don’t see why Sony and/or Media Molecule, the company that developed this amazing game wouldn’t want to monetize by selling these adorable plush dolls. I don’t want to sound like a girl but I think they are perfect for my car’s backseats or the back of the rear windshield!

Image source: Play-Asia

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As promised, I bought these packs as my Christmas presents, well a bit too early but what the hell. I have purchased the two DLC packs for LittleBigPlanet – the Metal Gear Solid Premium Costume Pack and the Premium Level Pack. All I can say is its worth the money!

  

As you know there are 5 Story Levels as well as 1 Challenge Level along with 6 costumes and a lot of objects, stickers etc. The first level is basically an intro, you don’t really get to do anything but the scene is nicely done. The second level is where the fun begins because you will get to play with THE PAINTINATOR. I think that’s basically the meat of the level pack and also a break through for LittleBigPlanet because its the first real weapon for LBP. This level will have you practice on non moving targets then move on to the harder, moving objects and dodge away from bullets (huge green balls), not too hard there. A HP meter is also introduced which I find it very innovative, for LBP that is. An enemy will have a HP meter so you will keep shooting it until its meter is empty. Again HP is nothing new in the gaming world in general but it is for this game.

  

The third level is where the actual “story” starts and you will fight your way through this level then progress to fourth and finally the fifth level is the boss level where you will get to fight a Metal Gear which in my opinion, beautifully designed. Its weapons are insane too as it will try and kill you with machine gun, rockets, lasers and the huge laser gun.

  

Overall the 5 levels are pretty shot, about 30 minutes or so, but extremely fun, even better if you play with friends. The Challenge Level, your goal is to surive as long as you can while you blast away the laser cannons on the ceiling. Again pretty fun if you play with others.

  

The costumes are also very detailed and really do resemble the characters from Metal Gear Solid. I personally like Raiden but I think Screaming Mantis has the most detailed features of all costumes. It even has the two hanging dolls behind (see screenshot).

  

I’m not sure about other packs, but these two packs are a definite must for MSG fans as well as LBP fans! Get them now! Treat yourself two special Christmas presents BEFORE Christmas!

And I look forward to more new levels with weapons in the future.

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Just when I thought there’s nothing special this month for my PS3, but PlayStation.Blog surprised me with news regarding two Metal Gear Solid Premium Packs available on the PlayStation Store on December 23rd. The Metal Gear Solid Premium Costume Pack will contain Snake’s costume, obviously, as well as costumes for Meryl Silverburgh, Screaming Mantis and Raiden. The costume pack goes for $5.99 or $1.99 each. I lied about getting the Street Fighter pack, but I AM pretty sure I will be getting this pack! I promise!

And that’s not all, there is also a Metal Gear Solid Premium Level Pack. This pack contains the Gurlokovich Soldier costume, plus 72 stickers, 12 materials, 10 decorations, 18 objects, 5 new Story Levels as well as 1 new Challenge Level. You would think wow that’s a lot of content, think again because there are more! You will also be getting (from PlayStation.Blog):

- 3 new background music tracks
- 1 new interactive music track
- 1 new Metal Gear Solid themed ‘sound object’
- New Plasma Ball ‘danger element’
- New Laser Sight ‘gadget’
- 12 new Trophies to unlock
- New functioning Searchlight lamp – for those special ‘exclamation mark’ moments
- …and finally, the piece de resistance…THE PAINTINATOR (and Paint Switch)

If you don’t want to purchase this level pack, you can still play this level by joining a host that has the level. Though you cannot obtain any items from the levels. Don’t be cheap and get it!

The best part is this level pack is only $5.99, consider the costume to be $0.99, you are paying $5.00 for 6 new levels along with tons of stickers, materials, objects, music tracks and my favorite of all, THE PAINTINATOR. This is pretty much the first “weapon” for LittleBigPlanet where you are actually holding something and shooting something from it, in this case paint. These levels and the THE PAINTINATOR will show what LittleBigPlanet can really do, the future is bright for this littlebiggame. (you read that right, littlebiggame)

I am really excited and looking forward to getting these two packs, guess these will be my Christmas presents.

And while we wait, please enjoy this beautifully done video of Metal Gear Solid x LittleBigPlanet levels, hands down to whoever designed this level.

Image source: PlayStation.Blog’s Photostream

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The incident actually happened a year ago but trial opened just Monday. According to Cleveland.com Daniel Petric shot both his parents, killing his mother and left his father badly injured. The reason for this senseless shooting? Halo 3. His father didn’t allow Daniel to purchase Halo 3 due to its violent nature. He then sneaked out of his house and got it even though he was not allowed to. The game was taken away as soon as Daniel returned home after purchasing it and was locked in his father’s lockbox where he also had a handgun locked inside. A month later, Daniel got the lockbox’s key, unlocked the box and retrieved both the game and the handgun. Then you could of imagined what happened next. He shot them.

Daniel’s lawyer said he “had been under great stress at the time of the shooting”. I don’t think that’s an excuse for shooting anyone, let alone shooting your own parents, over a game or anything. I feel sorry for his parents and family but not himself because I think he should have known better and what made it worse was the fact that he tried to make it look like “a murder-suicide” by placing the gun back to his father’s hand.

Kids these days are so addicted to video games that they will do anything in order to play. These kids need to realize there is more to just video gaming.

I bet Jack Thompson would have said something about this if he wasn’t “permanently disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court “. I’m still happy that he got what he deserved.

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Game will be released on March 13th 2009 for the Xbox 360 and later for the PlayStation 3. I’ve been pretty hyped up about this game since the beginning of this year and we are getting a bit closer to actually owning it. I envy the Xbox users because they get to try out the RE5 demo. The recent released trailers from Gametrailers.com show really promising game play and look pretty intense based on the trailers. But one thing I dislike is the fact that when you are in shooting mode you cannot move, similar to Resident Evil 4. I would like to be able to move while shooting because honestly, it just doesn’t make sense to me and in reality, would you just stand there and shoot?

Anyway I hope us PlayStation 3 users get our first taste of RE5 soon. And here is one of the trailers from Gametrailers.com. Enjoy!

Its been more than 1 year since I got my copy of Call of Duty 4 for the PlayStation 3 and I am still crazy about this game. So far I have logged more than 7 days worth online, which is on average more than 40 minutes a day. I just can’t stop playing this game, mainly because I have always been into guns my whole life since my uncle introduced me to the world of BB guns when I was less than 10 years old! I used to be a Counter Strike addict since high school but as soon as COD 4 was released I jumped the boat almost right away. Honestly CS:S was getting a bit old, playing the same people/servers/maps (I used to play dust/dust2 24/7 servers by the way). Still it was and still is one of the best first person shooter out there in my opinion.

I was really and I mean REALLY tempted to buy Call of Duty: World at War, mainly because of its co-op multiplayer game mode, the flame thrower, the unlockable zombie level and finally one of my ex co-worker told me to get it because he is playing with my other ex co-workers (used to play COD4 with them almost every Thursday).

In the end I have decided not to get it simply because my preference for modern/futuristic first person shooter weights far more than the said reasons why I wanted to buy. Another deal breaker is the fact that I won’t have time to play both series since I hardly have time to play COD4 these days.

Even after the release of Call of Duty: World at War, I haven’t noticed any drop in players for COD4 at all. I guess I’m not the only one who prefers having modern wars, or maybe some people just have the time for both series.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I still miss the co-op missions, the mighty flame thrower and most of all, the unlockable zombie level! For those that have the game, I am sure you guys are enjoying it.