I love World at War.  The gameplay, the weapons, the history, the big name voice work and the ranking system.  They are all top notch.  That’s what makes the Nazi Zombies mini game that much more epic.  I play that one level more than any other aspect of the latest Call of Duty.  This is the trailer for the new map that will be available for download next week.  It looks friggen sweet.  New power ups a plenty, electrified fences, a new environment with loads and loads of Nazi Zombies.  Everything a growing boy needs.

Thanks to Giancarlo Mazzan who sent the vid over on facebook.

Gamespot has an interesting article regarding the teaser image above that appeared on Konami’s home page.  My progression in gaming was a Sony-free one.  Nintendo, SNES, Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, Xbox then Xbox 360.  I owned a PS2 and a PSP, each for about 4 or 5 months and never really understood the undying fanboydom surrounding that particular brand and their systems.   I am intrigued by the Metal Gear franchise and I would love to see it make its way over to the system that I currently own.  Here are the details, maybe you can judge for yourself: 

What we heard: Rumors of an Xbox 360 version of Metal Gear Solid 4 have been bouncing around for years. (Remember this one?) More recently, the last few months have seen whispers of the first Metal Gear Solid, released for the original PlayStation in 1998 and PC in 2000, making its way onto Xbox Live.

Now, both rumors have been restoked with a vengeance by a teaser page on the Konami site. Posted just as the Friday workday ended–a common publicity tactic by publishers to “build buzz” over a weekend–the teaser page bears a single line of text saying, “A next Metal Gear is…” Above the garbled English is an equation of sorts that has an upside-down exclamation point being added to a right-side-up exclamation point.

The sum of the two symbols appears to be a power button that looks extremely like Xbox 360’s on/off switch, and the entire equation is the same neon green as the Xbox 360 logo. The resulting spectulation has many-a-fanboy apoplectic, since Final Fantasy XIII and Tekken 6’s multiplatform moves make MGS4 one of the few remaining third-party PS3 exclusives. However, a close look at the PS3 will show it has the same symbol on its power button, just above a green (and blue) light when the console is turned on. Given that it is, in fact, the universal logo for power switch on electronics, the Wii has one as well.

The official story: As of press time, US Konami reps had not responded to requests for comment.  

Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus that some sort of new Metal Gear project is being teased. However, the fact one of the exclamation points is upside down may point to a third, non-Xbox 360 possibility…that the game in question is a third Metal Gear Acid. The PSP spin-off series uses an inverted exclamation point as a substitute “i” in its title, just like the one in the equation.

First of all, that is not an inverted exlamation point in the Metal Gear Acid Logo.  It’s a regular one. See for yourself.  Secondly, I just turned on my Xbox and that logo looks exactly like the one that lit up nice and green.  I had a PS3 and I own a Wii.  They are similar, but claiming that what we see in the above image could be a symbol for the PS3 is ludacris.  If so, then why is is neon green?  I guess the real question would be why WOULDN’T Konami want to end the exclusivity with Sony?  There are more 360’s than PS3’s in homes across America, and with the price drop they are selling faster as well.  I think that the Playstation will survive, it has too large a fanbase not to.  I do think they will eventually lose all of their exclusives as they mostly have already, do to the head start Microsoft got on the next gen.

I hate always being right.  It’s a terrible burden.  As a few of you may know I do a radio show in DC.  I have been in fights with every program director I have ever had about gaming and whether or not it is worthy of discussion on the air. Not only is the median age for gamers in europe 33 years old, but anyone that has picked up the sticks in the past 5 years know these games are not being made for kids.  Couple that with a fact that the economy world wide is falling into the Kohler Toilet, but gaming is somehow growing at a steady clip. Game Spot with proof of the scripture I have been preaching. Can I get an Amen?:

US gaming industry sees 18 percent year-over-year growth to $1.31 billion; Fable II tops software, Wii retains hardware crown.

Remember when January 1, 2008, rolled around and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was hanging around 13,000? Yeah, that was nice. And then, after months of steady decline, October arrived, and stock markets around the world walked hand-in-hand off a cliff.

So how did US gamers react to having the value of their 401(k)s noisily deflate like an unknotted balloon? Surprisingly, they barely batted a lash, according to the NPD Group’s measure of October gaming hardware, software, and accessory sales. In sharp contrast to September’s negative growth, the NPD reported today that the gaming industry pulled in $1.31 billion in October.

US VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY – OCTOBER 2008
Software: $697M (+35%)
Hardware: $495M (+5%)
Accessories: $120M (-8%)
Total Games: $1.31B (18%)

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 continued to see a sales bump in relation to price cuts made in September, with the console selling 371,000 units across its three SKUs. “The price reduction on the Xbox 360 is paying dividends at retail as the platform realized a 7 percent unit sales increase over September,” said Frazier. “Keeping in mind that September was a five-week month while October had four, the sales pace increased 33 percent.”

Amen.

Gamespot with some bittersweet news.  This sounds friggen amazing but why is this only on the PS3?  Bioshock has moved way more units on the 360.

2K Games’ recently released conversion of BioShock for the PlayStation 3 has allowed owners of Sony’s console to experience the acclaimed shooter released last year for the Xbox 360 and PC. While the game includes all of the content found in the 360 game, exclusive content is on the horizon via downloadable content due later this month. While we saw some of this earlier this year, 2K recently stopped by our offices to give us some quality time with more of the upcoming content.

The main menu will offer the new content after you’ve downloaded it and lets you dive right into most of it. The heart of the upcoming downloadables are three challenge rooms that focus on different styles of play. The first (and best known) of the challenge rooms is titled A Shocking Turn of Events and finds you trying to free a Little Sister trapped atop a Ferris wheel. The level has been polished up some since we saw it last. Your goal is to free the Little Sister by powering up the Ferris wheel via electric shotgun ammo, which you use to charge the controls and rotate the ride so she can get off. Ammo is at a premium, and you’ll have to look around for it. The level features a carnival theme and a number of interactive spots where you’ll engage in minigames (such as popping balloons) that yield prizes.

Worlds of Hurt is the second challenge room and offers more combat-focused challenges that task you with clearing eight rooms in order to free a Little Sister. Things start out simple enough as you go through the first room and take out a lone splicer. You’re limited to a pistol but gain all of your weapons after you dispatch your foe. The Little Sister rewards you for your work with your arsenal of weapons (in teddy bear form), which is when things get interesting. Once the initial room is cleared you’ll be able to tackle the other seven in any order you like. You’ll work out of a central hub area that leads to the different subrooms and features vending machines of every type.

Every time you clear one of the rooms you’ll be rewarded with cash and Adam, which you can use to stock up on ammo or tweak your plasmids. Choosing your weapons and upgrades carefully is key to success, because the rooms get brutal quickly. Thankfully, a few things will help you prepare for the challenge at hand. First, before committing to a room, you’ll see an icon above the door to clue you in to what you’re facing. Second, once you enter the room, a large glass floor lets you have a look at what to expect. Once you’ve gotten the lay of the land you can drop down a passage and get started, or slowly back out and try another room. An added bonus is your ability to use your research camera to snap pictures through the floor and upgrade your damage against foes.

This sounds freaking sweet.  Why is it only being released for the PS3? No shtick, I just want a reason.

When are we going to stop kowtowing to religious zealots?  When are people going to realize that it’s almost 2009?  I don’t like Sony.  I don’t own a PS3.  I was still intrigued by the upcoming release of “Little Big Planet.”  It seems like an original concept and was garnering some amazing reviews.  It was scheduled to be released next week, and now it won’t be?  Why?  Wackjob Muslims.  I don’t fault anyone their religion.  If it brings you comfort, have at it.  What I do fault is zealots that use thousand year old doctrine to fuck with people.  That’s all this is, make no mistake.  Yahoo with the bullshit:

LittleBigPlanet, one of this year’s most-anticipated PlayStation 3 releases, won’t be arriving in stores next week as expected.

The “social platforming” game is already gathering rave reviews, but it hasn’t proven popular with one Muslim group, which issued a complaint to the game’s publisher Sony concerning one background music track. Performed by award-winning Malian musician Toumani Diabate, the song quotes two verses from the Qur’an. Many Muslims consider the mixing of music and scripture to be deeply offensive.

Jesus Titty Fucking Christ.  We are not harvesting stem cells because it’s against God and we can’t play a video game because it quotes a holy text.  How long are we going to let organized religion shackle we adults who can think for ourselves?     I’m so fucking sick of it.  I know plenty of people who believe in God, but don’t use it as an excuse to impose their will on others.  Shove their beliefs in my face.   Freedom of Speech seems to be alive and well EXCEPT in video games.  Then, censorship and repression is completely ok.  It’s been proven time and time again.  Until we move past this archaic mystisism, we are going to be doomed to letting these so called soothsayers decided what we can watch, what we can play, and what diseases we can cure.  Drives me nuts.