Domona Lisa

A masterpiece recreated by domino artist FlippyCat.

Killzone 2 IGN Video Review

I Need a New Phone

I have bad luck with phones. They just die on me. My current phone is in a state that is somewhere between life and death, a zombie-like netherworld of undead dropped calls and inexplicable battery failures. It has to go ASAP. I need to buy a new phone, and I dont want to switch from Sprint/Nextel. I have to say, as horrifically bad as their phones are, the service is incredibly reliable here in the NYC area. So I need a phone that will work on their network, which means its "unlocked" or whatever.

And, I dont want a freaking iPhone. No! I wont do it. Everyone I know has one and all they do is tell me to get one. Obviously it must suck! In Japan, nobody uses iPhones because they have technology thats like 6-18 months ahead of what we get here in the US, and they want cool features like a TV tuner, Wifi VOIP and video recording.

So, I want a sweet ass phone that would make Shigeru Miyamoto shed tears of joy. maybe you can help me research it. I checked out the HTC Touch Pro 2, and that looks pretty sweet. But Im not sure it can make my cheeseburgers medium rare. Im picky like that. So, any help in selecting a replacement for my undead nightmare would be greatly appreciated.

Bunrout 3 Tournament Highlights

The best Burnout 3 players battled it out for supremacy on 2/21/09.

The Legacy of The 2D Shooter - Video Mashup

High Stakes Poker Season 1 Episode 1

Lets watch some of the very best play poker.

Japanese Gamer Queen Clears SMB Lvl1 Blind

Rare is Busto

In 2002, Microsoft paid $375 million to buy developer Rare the makers of the insanely popular N64 hits GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, and Banjo-Kazooie to name a few. The acquisition was a major blow to Nintendo at the time, and many analysts believed the move to be a very smart move for Microsoft. Now six years and $375 million later Rare has still failed to produce results. In the three years that Rare has been developing games for the Xbox 360 Rare has only managed to generated just over $66 million combined domestically over those three years, according to the NPD Group.

Unpleased with these results Microsoft has announced plans to begin restructuring Rare in order to make the developer more profitable. Rare apparently likes the idea. Rare studio manager Mark Betteridge told Gamespot.com "As the entire industry struggles to address the increasing scale and cost of development, we too have felt a need to restructure our current approach so we can speed development and better manage the scale required to create high quality games," explained Betteridge.
Even with the restructuring that will be taking place does the problem go deeper for Rare. After all Rare really hasn't done much ever since the N64 days. Has Rare gone creatively busto?

- GAMINGFRONT.NET

Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment Trailer

You can now build star bases in Sins. Holy crap thats awesome.

Zero Punctuation: Skate 2

"The purity of the experience is right there in the title: Skate. Because thats all it is. Also: 2. Because there was another one."

Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena Trailer

The first Riddick game on the original Xbox was awesome, and highly underplayed by the masses. The new Riddick game takes the Butcher Bay scenario from 2004 and totally remasters it, and then adds a whole new scenario on top of it: The Assault on Dark Athena. Thats a huge amount of content. Ill be very surprised if this game sucks.

GTA IV: TLAD IGN Video Review

Nice review by Hil, basically its more GTA IV. I was pretty skeptical about this DLC, between the high $20 price and the odd pairing of NYC with motorcycle gangs. When I saw the characters and setting I had to laugh.. Niko's story was believable, as there actually is a huge Russian mafia presence in Brooklyn. But fat white guys on Harleys? Thats clearly a storyline from GTA San Andreas (or somewhere else) that got left on the cutting room floor and was retrofitted into Niko's Liberty City simply due to $50M being thrown at Rockstar by Microsoft and a short timetable.

Let me tell you what little I know about the real motorcycle gangs here in NYC. We certainly dont have gangs of big fat white guys in their 40s riding around on hogs in Manhattan, let alone New Jersey (Alderney), where the GTA TLAD story mostly takes place. Maybe there are like 5 of those guys, and they all hang out at Hogs N Heifers, and they probably work as accountants during the day. No, the real motorcycle gangs of NYC are in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, and they are made up of ethnically diverse men and women in their late teens and 20s. These ricers ride imported Japanese performance bikes, often modified and painted for maximum wow factor. For the most part, they are nice kids who dont drink, do drugs or get into trouble. But they love bikes, modding, and speed, and they often race around over the speed limit, so sometimes they'll get cops chasing them, almost always to no avail. They go home, lock up their bikes and study for their History exam or Microsoft certification test. Probably wouldnt make for a very interesting videogame.

Street Fighter IV - Gametrailers Review

Sega Reveals Virtua Tennis 2009

Sega has announced what looks like an upgraded version of Virtua Tennis 3 planned for release in 3 months. Unreal! Details below:

Virtua Tennis 2009

The world’s top tennis stars are hitting the courts again as SEGA’s best-selling tennis series smashes back into action on PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360®, PC, and the Wii™ – Virtua Tennis 2009 will be available in this summer.

Create your own player and join the new World Tour where you will be trained by a real-life legend of tennis to compete for the #1 ranking against the biggest stars. Then take your character online and prove you’re the best with the new online ranking system! With brand new courts, a new roll call of tennis stars to compete against and even more court mini-games, Virtua Tennis 2009 is set to be the #1 tennis title once again!


Key Features:

• New World Tour & Online Rankings - Take your career online and compete for the ultimate title of ‘Virtua Tennis Champion’ with the new PLAYSTATION 3 system and Xbox 360 online ranking system. With prize money you earn in online tournaments, you can purchase over 800 shop items in the new Tennis Store and upgrade your character.

• New Players / Courts – Play as or against over 20 of the world’s top players, including seven new to Virtua Tennis and three legends. All-new arenas and the officially licensed Davis Cup provide the most realistic tennis competition to date.

• New Player Creation System – You now have full control over facial, body and clothing customization, as well as the depth to populate the game world with hundreds of unknown opponents.

• More Court Games – Playing alone or with up to three friends compete in 12 mini-games, five completely new, and upload your hi-scores on the worldwide rankings in games such as Zoo Feeder and Pirate War.

• Improved Gameplay – Courtside action is better than ever, with extensive updates to the famous arcade-style Virtua Tennis match engine, as well as 3D crowds and a more realistic courtside experience.

Golden Boy - Rippin Kittin - Glove Radiomix

God of War 3 - Fear Nothing

The question isnt whether God of War 3 will be the best game of 2009, the question is, will it be the best game of all time?

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Trailer

Spidey Cat aka Prince of Persia

Deadly Creatures IGN Video Review

Dead Rising 2 Trailer

Best Games of 2008

Im a wee bit overdue on posting this piece. I wanted to finish more of the games on the list, but its simply not possible so Im just gonna post the list as is. Ive played at least 30% of every game on the list, finished most of them, and I can guarantee none are stinkers. With 2009 looking pretty sparse, Ill will be continuing to mostly play games from 2008, 2007 and of course all the classics from previous generations like the NES, SNES, Genesis and Dreamcast. When you have so many great games in your backlog, why bother with buying anything new unless its utterly brilliant? For the most part, Im done with buying brand new games, unless its a major title Im super-pumped about. Ill rent them from gamefly, or buy them used, but paying $65 in this economy for your average 9 hour experience just isnt going to cut it. Gimmicky casual games? Not really going to cut it either. If gaming companies want my money in 2009 and beyond, they have to prove to me that their products are truly worth it. That being said, here the list:

#1. The Capcom Superslam - Bionic Commando, Super Street Fighter 2 HD, Megaman 9, WOTB Commando, 1942 Joint Strike. Thats right, my choice for Game of The Year isnt 1 game, but actually 5 games by one company. They did all 5 so well, so perfectly, to single out any one would demean the entire lot. Capcom was game company of the year in 2008, and these games are the proof.

#2. Gears of War 2 - The best graphics on the 360, the best 3rd person shooting mechanics, the best 2 player coop, and the best new game mode in years: Horde

#3. GTA IV - Great writing, great graphics and world design, some fun online modes. The games has myriad flaws, but they are overshadowed by its brilliance.

#4. Metal Gear Solid 4 - Kojima's epic masterpiece raises the bar for gaming.

#5. Little Big Planet - Make your own high res 2D platforming world and play it online. Of all the great games that came to the PS3 in 2008, this was the most fun.

#6. Fallout 3 - Ive criminally neglected to play this as much as I should, but from what Ive seen and heard from friends, its nothing less than best RPG of 2008.

#7. Dead Space - Scariest game ever. Horrifying. Bioshock in Space FTW.

#8. Ninja Gaiden 2 - Action combat perfected, otherwise the game is very mediocre.

#9. Mario Kart Wii - I like to race people from Japan and lose. Its hella fun.

#10. God of War - Chains of Olympus - Best. PSP. Game. Ever.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Prince of Persia
Mirrors Edge
GRID
Left 4 Dead
Midnight Club LA
Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core
Braid
Castle Crashers
Call of Duty 5
Okami Wii
Motorstorm: Pacific Rift
Resistance 2

Crunchy Blog Still Alive - Colonel vs Raiden WTF

Im back, all systems are operational, the AI has been destroyed, all monkeys have been removed from said heads, and the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades. Thanks to everyone who asked about the blog. Its not dead. It cant be killed. You can cut its head off or set it on fire, but like Jason Vorhees or Freddy Kruger, it cant be killed. It will sink to the bottom only to crawl out of the depths sometime later when you arent expecting it, stronger than ever, ready to suck your brain dry like Jenna Jameson with a Cadberry Egg.