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Games, Music, n StuffÇhèmî¢ål ßrøthèr$™® best space for gaming since 2005 23 March CLOSED As you have probably guessed....i dont do this site anymore but if you want to contact me and i can see that many of you do..please feel free to email me thanks 27 October The Battle of the LCD engaget 24 May DaxterDaxter is a totally fresh take on the Jak and Daxter universe by casting him as the main character and finally allowing gamers to play as the wisecracking sidekick. Daxter aims to set the standard for character action games on the PSP while pushing the Jak & Daxter universe in new directions enabling players to see it from a totally different perspective. The game takes place during the two years Daxter spends trying to find and free Jak, who was imprisoned during the events that led to that start of Jak II. Daxter is now on his own, in an unknown place and quickly realizes that being small and furry doesn’t do a lot for his chances of survival. Taking on the job as pest exterminator to help stamp out a mysterious bug infestation, Daxter explores parts of Haven City and collects clues to find Jak. The thing is, nothing ever goes his way and Daxter will soon realize that he’ll get more excitement from his job than he bargained for! The graphical style stays true to the Jak & Daxter universe, taking the player through various locations unexplored in Jak II and Jak 3. Daxter’s swatter and bug spray gun will offer unique action mechanics across numerous seamless environments. Additionally, Daxter’s vehicle maneuvering skills are put to the test with various vehicle levels.
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Socom US Navy SealsExplore three new Areas of Operation (AO): Morocco, Poland, and Bangladesh. Streaming environment technology allows gameplay maps to be five to six times larger than in SOCOM II: U.S. NAVY SEALs. In addition, multiple save points eliminate having to replay a failed mission from the beginning, allowing for seamless progression through the plotline.
For the first time in the SOCOM series, land and water vehicles play a central role in the gameplay experience. Vehicles are drivable by both players and AI and cover a range of military and civilian vehicles including tactical turret-equipped pickups and the SEAL-team configured military Humvee and SOC-R Assault Boat. The innovative new weapon customization system in SOCOM 3 allows players to use more than 30 different weapons and attachments, resulting in nearly1,000 different weapon combinations. The new Team Command Actions (TCA) allows you to quickly give your teammates context sensitive commands such as move to, breach, and more, simply by pointing at the location and pressing a single button. Combined with more complex team and enemy AI behavior, SOCOM 3 presents a fully immersive and more intense tactical experience than ever before. Features:
Fifa Road to World CupEA Sports celebrates the world's largest sporting event with the only official and exclusive licensed videogame for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. 2006 FIFA World Cup perfectly captures the emotion and passion of the world's fiercest national rivalries by giving users the opportunity to play with their heroes and the chance to win the FIFA World Cup. Play as your home nation and control your favorite players as you battle from qualification right through to a virtual re-creation of the final tournament in Germany. EA Sports has brought to life close to 100 superstars by emulating the real-life abilities of the world's most recognizable players. Signature moves, playing styles and flair moves have all been authentically captured in this game. Gameplay advancements in passing and shooting, including improved penalty kicks, make this the most realistic and playable soccer game yet. 2006 FIFA World Cup introduces a new game mode called Global Challenge that will test even the most hardcore gamer. Global Challenge re-creates 40 classic moments in FIFA World Cup history for fans to tackle. Compare your results with history and measure yourself against the world's best. Take control of one of 127 national teams and play against friends in up to eight-way multiplayer matches. Track your results in The Lounge to create your own rankings and earn rewards.
As the only officially licensed videogame of 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany, EA Sports has included a plethora of in-game unlockable content such as legendary players and exclusive apparel that will make this game a coveted collectable for soccer fans. Play with some of the game's greatest legends and outfit your squad in exclusive team apparel. Play with your heroes and win the FIFA World Cup with 2006 FIFA World Cup, in stores April 2006. Features
And 1 StreetballWhen you ball, you know you’re not going to do some fancy 360 with 30 flips in the air and dunk from half-court. When you talk about playing streetball, you keep it real. You bring crowds to their feet by dropping shiny no-look dimes to your teammates. You go strong to the rack and bang on fools no matter how many try to stop you. And when you’ve got it all, you paint pictures on backboards by pinning your opponent’s shots. But it’s not until you showcase your own original moves and signature style on the world’s toughest playgrounds that you get your name mentioned alongside Skip-To-My-Lou, AO, Hot Sauce, The Professor, and other streetball legends. We may speak the same language, but don’t ever say it’s the same game. AND 1 Streetball…true to the game.
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03 April FarcryThough it offers little new content, what really matters is if the game is still fun, which FCIE most definitely is. Slaughtering things with feral powers is always enjoyable, and the expanded multiplayer options help to keep this game entertaining long after you blaze through the new single-player content. If you're thinking of buying this game, consider the following: If you never played FCI before and are looking for a new shooter experience, by all means get this. If you were a big fan of FCI and are really into map modding, you'll appreciate FCIE's expanded options. If you were one of the many waiting for a true sequel to FCI, however, keep waiting.
07 March Monkies on PSPDevelopment studio Traveller's Tales is working with SEGA to deliver Super Monkey Ball fans a new installment in the acclaimed series. Super Monkey Ball Adventure, which is set for release on GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Sony PSP later this year, is a departure from the straight roller-puzzle mechanics of pervious games. The title provides players with a new adventure mode in addition to the classic offerings - a truth that has presented the developer with some interesting challenges. In the diaries below, Traveller's Tales highlights the development cycle for the anticipated project.
The History
The Realization One thing that become abundantly clear to us was having the ability to use all of the additional ball mechanics in the main game rather than keep them separated to the mini-games. This did provide us with a problem of ensuring that game could not be broken when using these abilities, especially when a task was developed with a specific ball-mode in mind. However, given the abundance of mini-games that previous Super Monkey Ball games had we had to pare this down to a manageable number. We wanted to have around five good, solid mini-games in Adventure three of which were to come from previous titles. Working closely with SEGA we eventually chose Race, Boxing and Target, not only for the fun of the gameplay but it also gave us the widest choice of gameplay mechanics. We also realize that there will be fans out there wondering why their favorite mini-game didn't make the cut. Well, maybe it didn't - get over it!!! Along with those three we also developed a further three games; Tag, Bounce and Cannon, details of which will be forthcoming. Probably one of the biggest issues we had was getting the feel of the game right. In the very beginning Nagoshi-san allowed us to interpret the gameplay from the original titles. As we released each milestone we were still not happy with the handling as we were missing that quintessential feel of what Super Monkey Ball was all about. Nagoshi-san kindly gave us guidance and the astounding knowledge he had of the game so that we could tweak our engine and physics to match as closely those that fans of the game are used to. The result is something that is very close but has additional subtleties that allowed us to further tweak the gameplay to suit what we wanted to achieve. Recently we attended the first preview launch of the game at London Zoo and were extremely pleased with the reaction that we got from the press - although at the time of writing we haven't seen the previews yet, so fingers crossed! It was apparent that there were a number of Super Monkey Ball fans in the audience that were very skeptical over how Super Monkey Ball would transfer to an adventure realm. From the feedback we had on the day it seems that we have been able to achieve our aim; to take Super Monkey Ball in a new direction that not only fits with previous versions of the game but gives the player a completely new and refreshing world in which to have fun! 04 March Gran Turismo psp and Pro evolution managementwell we dont have a lot of information of these games so here are the pics:
    24 February FILESHARERS BEWARE! do u have that or ares galaxy or any of those other file sharing programes. well you might be in for a shocker. £5000 worth of shock infact. 20 000 people have already been caught and still more are awaiting fines so be warned. if i were you i would uninstall any of those illegal file sahring stuff.13 February HOW TO FIX THAT STUPID NOISE AND ERRORS WITH YOUR PS2Ever gotten those annoying Disc Read Error messages on your Playstation 2? If you have, I'll bet the first time you saw one was on the 31st day you've had it, after the Sony 30-day warranty expired. If you're real lucky, your PS2 might last two or even three years; eventually this error will hunt down your PS2 and settle down there. If it only affects you some of the time — you might be able to play some DVD movies, but your favorite one never loads, or you can only play PSone games and not silver-colored PS2 games — then chances are it's not a serious error and only requires minor adjustments to your PS2. Since it is out of warranty, there's little risk in opening it up and trying to fix it yourself before paying to send it back to Sony's repair center. The following guide shows you how to get the PS2 open, clean it out, make your adjustments, and put it back together without any hassles. Before we begin, I'd just like to say that if your PS2 is under warranty, get this taken care of by Sony. It's not worth voiding your warranty if you can survive without it for a week or so. If your PS2 can't read anything at all, cross your fingers and read on, but you may have a more serious issue than we can fix. I am using a model SCPH-30001 Playstation 2, with a U serial number. Newer models have different heatsinks and even a different chip layout on the motherboard. Some instructions may vary or not apply for other models. My apologies to modem users, but I'm going to throw in a lot of pictures. You'll find plenty of other PS2 repair guides, but most have blurry pictures, pictures taken from across the room, or none at all. My aim is to show you every little part you have to deal with, so there's no confusion. Remember, spare parts are not your friend! We're only going to need a few tools for this. Grab your PS2, a normal-size Phillips and a flathead screwdriver, a small or jeweler's size Phillips screwdriver, a can of compressed air, and one each of (if you own any): a DVD, a PSone game, a silver PS2 game, and a blue PS2 game (namely Contra: Shattered Soldier). I've chosen Army of Darkness, Final Fantasy Tactics, GTA: Vice City, and Contra. To my knowledge, there is only a handful of blue games, so if you don't have one there's no need to worry. During the repair of your Playstation 2, we'll be taking the device apart. Most of the supports will be taken out, so be careful you don't bend or break any of the connectors on the various ports or internally. We'll also be taking apart the loading tray. This includes a Class 1 laser, which can blind you. The easiest precaution is to make sure your PS2 is left off when the disc tray is open.
By the time you're through with this article, all of the above should work in your PS2, with the exception of the blue PS2 game. For some reason, Konami decided to find the only color the PS2 has a hard time dealing with and throwing one of the best games on it. Some people have never had a problem with this game, other people have never been able to load it. The best we're hoping for is that we can get it to load at least 10% of the time. More on that later. To begin with, remove any add-ons you might have for your Playstation 2, like the Network Adaptor. They'll just get in the way. Flip the Playstation 2 upside down and remove all the rubber feet and square tabs. Get the edge of the flathead screwdriver or a knife underneath them to pop them out. I've circled them on the picture below — 4 rubber feet and 6 square tabs. There's a few you can leave on, but they might get in your way later.
Let's open her up!In the next step, we're going to take out the 10 screws under all these tabs. You'll need the Phillips head screwdriver for this part and you might want to mark where each one comes from. They're of two different lengths, so if you make a mistake putting them back there's only one other type of screw that might fit. Once the screws are all out, take the bottom cover off. Flip your Playstation 2 over again so it's right-side up. From back to front, peel up the cover and slide it forward, then lift it off. Be careful of the memory card, controller ports and the loading tray. Once you lift the cover free, you'll notice a ribbon connecting the power and open/close buttons to the chassis. Lay the cover down as best you can without putting any tension on this ribbon.
The last piece to remove is the black lid over the loading tray. There's four very tiny plastic screws holding it in. They're circled in red in the picture above. This is where you'll need the jeweler's screwdriver. Remove all the screws and lift the lid off. Voila! Now we have access to all the guts!
Expect to find some pretty disgusting things in here, such as this nasty hair sticking out of the fan! Grab a can of air and spray the heck out of the PS2. If you can't get your hands on a can of compressed air, just blow it out and pick anything big out with your fingers or tweezers. The hardware in here just about the same as your PC, so a little dust smudge isn't going to hurt anything, but free-floating dust bunnies or hair can get between your game and the lens, so be sure to get all that out of there.
You're about two-thirds of the way done. Bring your Playstation 2 back over to your TV and plug it back in. It's time to test out all the games and find out what's wrong. You'll also need the black cover that goes above the loading tray, your games, and a dark felt-tip marker. The can of air can't hurt either.
Some minor acrobaticsAfter you plug the PS2 in, hit the eject button. Be careful, it's on the lid dangling by a cable. With the tray open, unplug the PS2. Now we have access to the lens and everything else underneath the tray. Spray it out with the can of air, but be careful not to spray the lens directly. Pick any hairs out in the general vicinity of the lens.
You'll notice there's a white disc behind the lens that is circled in yellow with a red mark on it. This is a gear that adjusts the level of the lens. Don't touch it! Grab your felt-tip marker and mark the original position. If you're looking at the unit from the front, the left edge of the gear will be touching a silver plate, about where that red line is. Put a little mark perpendicular to this. If all else fails, you can always go back to this spot and it won't be any worse off than before. Turn the gear clockwise a little bit. You will notice the lens rising a bit, as every clockwise turn raises the lens. Once you reach a certain point, however, the lens will drop all the way to the bottom and start moving up again. Thankfully, Sony was sane and the range of movement is exactly one turn of the gear. This means you'll always be able to return the gear to its starting position. Turn the gear clockwise until you hear a click and see the lens drop to the bottom. As a side note, this is where I depart from other repair FAQ's. They always suggest adjusting the lens from where you find it, but starting at the bottom seems to give you the best chance of finding the real sweet spot for the lens. Plug just one controller into the front of your PS2. With the lens at the bottom position, put a game in the tray. Start with your PSone game. Place the black lid on top of the tray and lightly but firmly hold it down. Too hard and your game will click as it tries to spin, too light and the lid will fly off!
Plug your PS2 back in and turn it on. The tray should close. Let's turn on the TV and see if it works! After the splash screen, hit X to open the browser. Now we get to wait and see whether it loads!
With any luck, it will load at least one of your games. That's great, but we picked out four different titles for a reason! I tried them one-by-one in this order: PSone, DVD, Silver PS2, and Blue PS2. The Blue is the most difficult, so after you get your first successful load, you may want to start with it instead of a PSone game. If at least one of your discs doesn't load, don't fret. Eject your disc and unplug the PS2 with the tray open. Take the black lid off and let's look at that gear again. Turn the gear clockwise four clicks — about 1/8th of a full turn. Pop the game in, put the lid back on, and try again. Repeat this until the games all show up in the browser window. Remember to turn the PS2 off between tries, as there's a class 1 laser in there.
Almost finished!Once you've got all your games showing up in the browser, try and load them. It's very possible that the PS2 will need some adjustments before it can play the games. Also, listen to the PS2. The lid is off so it will be much louder than normal, but grinding noises are still bad. This can occur if the lens is right up against the disc or if it's too far away — you'll have to listen to how your own PS2 behaves, each one is slightly different. Again, the blue games, like Contra, are the most difficult to get to work. If you get this far, you're doing great!
Once you find a good position, test the heck out of it. Load all the games and DVDs, make sure they all start. With your DVD, scan ahead a few chapters. Turn it off, use the bathroom, come back and make sure it still works. Just like with your computer, as soon as you put the case back on and the screws in, you're that much more likely to remember you find something failing because you didn't test it. Try and load a saved game, too, just be careful with the memory card slots. They're wide open now and it's easy to pop it in at an angle if you're not watching.
Now that you're sure that everything's working, time to put it back together. Eject the tray, take your game, and let it close this time before unplugging it. Bring the PS2 back to your workbench to finish it up. Start putting the screws back in. The black lid is held down by the four small screws. Just like when you were holding it down with your hand, screw them in so they're applying light but firm pressure. If you tighten them all the way, it will push the disc down even more. After that's on, slide the top lid back on — careful about the ribbon and the ports again — and flip the Playstation 2 over. Put the bottom lid back on and then start with the screws. Here's a picture again so you know where the long ones go — they're the ones circled in red. Feet go on the four corners of the bottom section, regular tabs for the rest.
I hope this FAQ has been helpful. With a bit of care and perhaps the occasional tweaking of its guts, you should be able to continue reminiscing on your favorite Playstation 2 games well after the PS5 is out and gone!
remember i have no responsibilty if anything goes wrong! 11 February Timesplitters on pspCOME ON YOU HAVE TO AGREE WITH ME. THEIR IS NO REALY GOOD FPS FOR THE PSP OR EVEN A SHOOT 'EM UP. SO WHAT I AM SAYING IS WHY DONT EA MAKE A TIMESPLITTERS (THE BEST FPS SERIES EVER) GAME ON THE PSP. IT WILL BE A HUGE HIT, EVERYBODY WILL BUY IT SO I DONT SEE THE POINT NOT TO MAKE ONE. EA HAS TO STOP MAKING CRAP LIKE NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED AND START TO MAKE OTHER GOOD TITLES OF THE PAST.
 05 February BullyShaved head? Check. Billy Idol-esque lip curl/snarl? Check. Parental neglect? Check. Bad attitude? Double check. Sounds like a checklist for that dude who presented you with that prostate intruding atomic wedgie on the last day of school as your "going away" present.
Rockstar will soon introduce the world to Jimmy Hopkins, a 15-year-old bad ass with a lousy mother who leaves Jimmy at Bullworth Academy while continuing on her way to celebrate her 5th honeymoon. This is Jimmy's last chance to get it together after having been tossed out of every other prep school around. But it's not his fault....it's lousy parenting! Tell that to the poor kid who just received a head dunking in the public washroom from one pissed off Jimbo. Rockstar has always been known for its off-kilter games turned cultural phenomenons (Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, Midnight Club) and we expect Bully to stand proudly beside its gaming brethren and continue the legacy Rockstar has weaved over the last few years. Bully will not feature the over the top violence of Manhunt, car counter culture of Midnight Club nor the hidden hardcore activities of San Andreas, but it will delight throngs of nerds and weaker thans, who have been on the receiving end of school beatings since they entered Kindergarten. In that respect, Bully is the perfect premise for a videogame and it's surprising its taken a developer this long to realize it.
Pink Floyd may have sang "We don't need no education" which is ironic considering their poor use of grammar (yes, I understand that it was supposed to be that way!) but if Rockstar Vancouver has their way, gamers of all ages will be lining up to get into the Bullworth Academy later this year. Bully promises to be "one small smack for nerds, one giant wedgie for nerdkind." 28 January NEW DS!!! After weeks of rumor and speculation, Nintendo today finally revealed its expected redesign of the Nintendo DS handheld system. Called the DS Lite, this new design will be released in Japan on March 2, 2006 and cost 16,800 yen (about 140 bucks US.) The redesign retains all the functionality of the standard DS, but makes things smaller, lighter and brighter. The modified dual screen handheld has been tweaked into a smaller chassis. The new unit measures up to 133 mm wide by 73.9 mm tall by 21.5 thick. (that's compared to 148.7 x 84.7 x 28.99 mm in the original.) DS Lite weighs 218g, compared to the 275 g of the original. DS Lite's biggest new technical feature is its updated set of backlit LCD screens. The system is brighter overall, and will give the user the ability to select from four different levels of brightness for viewing and/or battery consumption. A few other cosmetic changes were made to the new DS Lite -- there's a new hinge design, the power light was put on the left side of the hinge and is visible while the clamshell is closed, the mic is moved to top/center while the speakers are more centered, the Select and Start buttons are set on the bottom instead of top, and the power button is no longer on the front, and all of the dark button colors are changed to whites and grays. The cute DS logo is also placed on the front. Basic functionality, otherwise, looks to be identical to the original DS.
19 January Urban ChaosThe name Urban Chaos will immediately cause involuntary shudders and perhaps even seizures from those who remember the terrible PlayStation game of the same name. But worry not, as this is related to that travesty in name only. Indeed, we've seen this in action and it's looking very promising. Urban Chaos is a first-person shooter where you dismember anyone looking even slightly aggressive, no plot needed. But Rocksteady has gone out of its way to create a nice little plot for us anyway. So here it is. Futuristic world. City out of control. You are T-Zero member Nick Mason. You have a wad of weapons, a giant riot shield and a health bar. Kill everything you see. "The riot shield, as well as having a wonderful damage model, will be your best friend throughout the game" The riot shield in Urban Chaos, as well as having a wonderful damage model, will be your best friend throughout the game. A tap of the shoulder button will bring it into view, protecting you from flames, flying projectiles and, brilliantly, can be whammed right in an unsuspecting antagonist's face. As strong as it is defensively - and offensively - your manoeuvrability is seriously hampered when it's up, so you have to pick and choose your times to lower it. It adds an element of strategy into an often brain-dead genre, particularly on the later levels when the villainous enemies have their own shields.
An anarchic urban wasteland is no place for a loner - if you're going to get by, you're going to need a little help from your big brave chums. Keep your paramedics alive, and they'll reward you by injecting drugs into your arm. Urban Chaos' city is jam-packed full of burning debris, so it should come as no surprise that you're also backed up by a team of firefighters who will repay you for keeping their manky hides comparatively lead free by clearing paths and chopping down doors for you. Navigating levels becomes a tortuous process of avoiding backdrafts and trying to fumble your way through rooms belching out thick smoke. Luckily, you naturally come equipped with heat sensor goggles that, if used in tandem with a reasonable level of stealth, allow you to pick off the hapless hooligans at your leisure. Urban Chaos is shaping up to be an aesthetically pleasing package that looks like it may possibly end up as the sleeper hit of the summer. Urban Chaos is out for Xbox in June 08 January psp upgradesokokokok......this is a bit embarassing......does annyone know how to upgrade their psp to 2.6 because i am completely stuck lol  22 December Dead or Alive 4In the waning days of December, the last game to grace the Xbox 360 is Tecmo's beloved Dead Or Alive 4. We flew to Tecmo to get a profoundly deep look at the Japanese company's first Xbox 360 game, Dead or Alive 4. Team Ninja's online enabled fighter takes from the team's best efforts in Dead Or Alive Ultimate, the developer's first efforts to bring the franchise online, and Dead Or Alive 3, which was the series' debut on Xbox a few years back. The result is a deeper and more challenging fighter that brings the game to a new level.
At first glance, Dead or Alive 4 is similar or even the same as Dead or Alive 3, but in many respects, it's deeper and more challenging and all in very subtle ways. What do I mean exactly? First, there are more moves per character. You'll find in the game's excellent training mode a helpful and deep sparring mode that enables you to see which moves are executed, but a new tracking system displays visual bars detailing the height or each attack as well. You can also set up the opponent to perform a single or a combo attack on you to practice specific moves against them.
Some characters have as many as 120 moves, while others can pull off as many as 145. The new moves, to a certain degree, have affected some of the older moves in older characters. For instance, you might be familiar with Kasumi or Ayane, for instance, and a few of their moves are different, so you'll have to adjust a little while playing. You can check each moved here as well as the final move count per character to boot.
The added moves are just the beginning. The game is harder than before, and the increased difficulty springs from a few areas. The change and addition of moves might throw some hardened veterans for a small loop at first, but the main changes come from a smaller window of opportunity when pulling off reversals, a slightly enhanced poke and stun game, and a more advanced ground game. The biggest change comes in the form of a highly disciplined counter system. Dead Or Alive 3's reversal system was easy and played a major part of the game's fun. Once you learned the moves, the next step was to master the counter system. Quite quickly, you could jump up in difficulty levels with some of the more experiences players by countering any player and as a result, laying down heavy damage without much challenge.
Call of Duty XtrasCall of Duty 2 gains maps and drops cheatsBig pile of extra stuff includes Punkbuster software
[22/12/2005 12:44] Infinity Ward is to integrate the anti-cheat software Punkbuster with its release of new multiplayer maps.
Seed Takes Root OnlineSeed is a massively multiplayer online game that, according to its creator Runestone, "trades in weapons for wit."
Dominance comes through winning over both non-player characters and real players in order to gain political power, rather than through hacking at things with axes, swords, sharpened spoons, etc. Set on the planet Da Vinci, where terraforming has faltered and the connection to the orbiting station is down, Seed allows players to make big decisions about how life there will progress. The society is intricately modelled, with NPCs able to remember, feel emotions and judge other players – though of course less democratic solutions than always being nice to them can work too; a bit of bribery can go a long way.  16 December Tourist TrophyAlthough they have two fewer wheels than cars, motorbikes are twice as hard to portray convincingly in virtual form. Much of the complexity comes from the rider's direct physical input and the intricate effect this places on a bike's handling dynamic - recreating this successfully becomes a considerable challenge, and one that only a handful of biking titles have managed in gaming's 30-odd years. The historically low success rate wouldn't appear to phase Polyphony. The developer recently used the Tokyo Motor Show to officially unveil its new racing game to the broader public after a previous debut outing at TGS. "The level of realism is a fundamental aspect of the Tourist Trophy experience" A racing title from Polyphony is always going to suffer from obvious comparisons and, aside from borrowing the game engine, Tourist Trophy inevitably still adopts much of the Gran Turismo blueprint. The game is split between arcade- and career-based halves and between them you face a number of licences to obtain and over 80 bikes to unlock and race on the game's current count of 35 circuits (a significant number of which GT4 players will recognise). Naturally, an in-depth upgrade system is in place, as well as the ability to customise your rider's safety gear with real-world examples from major manufacturers. As you might expect, the level of realism is a fundamental aspect of the Tourist Trophy experience. Independent front and rear brakes are a given, but additional elements such as the ability to bring the rider's chest down to the petrol tank for drag-free high speed, and to select one of three preset 'riding forms' which affect the bike's centre of gravity allow you to set up the bike to best suit your riding technique. You can even fine tune up to eight parameters such as seating position, waist offset and knee/arm angles in the main Tourist Trophy World mode. The riding itself is commendably implemented at this stage although, like GT and car driving, knowledge of bike riding fundamentals is necessary in order to begin exploiting TT's rewarding characteristics. The sense of speed, even onboard, isn't as convincing, however, and the high level of detail required for both rider and bike appears to have currently capped the number of their simultaneous onscreen presence at just four. Still, there's some road left to travel before release and therefore time for further tweaking. For now, though, the one thing we can say with certainty is that TT conforms to the notion of biking videogames being trickier to pin down than their car-focused equivalents. Tourist Trophy will be available for PS2 in the spring
10 December Ubisoft Handheld DuoUbisoft has today announced that it plans to release two new games on PSP during the first half of next year. Sam Fisher will be padding on to Sony's handheld in Splinter Cell Essentials, and noises around the web suggest that this will be a prequel to the first Splinter Cell, with WiFi multiplayer modes thrown in for some social stealth action. A version of Brothers in Arms is also being worked on for PSP, although Ubisoft has yet to release any specific details. This announcement comes shortly after Ubisoft revealed that both Prince of Persia and 187 Ride or Die (under the title Street Riders) will hit Sony's pocket console in 2006. There's also a mysterious new title to be announced for Xbox 360 tagged on to the bottom of the list of forthcoming games. Given the success of Far Cry Instincts on Xbox and the visual-muscle that 360 can throw around, we're almost certain that Ubisoft will be bringing the tropical island-set shooter to Microsoft's next-gen hardware. Expect an update very soon. Brothers in Arms, Splinter Cell Essentials and Street Riders will be released for PSP in early 2006 04 December Amazonim the biggest dumass.....all these years i thought amazon only took credit cards and there it as....CHEQUES ALL ALONG!!!
DAMN 03 December 360 GuideThe Core and Premium packs The Premium pack is a more luxurious offering for those who want to get the most out of the console. For a reasonable £280 you'll get a wireless joypad, 20GB hard drive, Xbox Live headset, Ethernet cable, component (HDTV) cable and, for a limited period, a Media Remote. The hard drive is simple to remove, meaning you can easily upgrade to a larger size in future. Xbox Live memberships "Xbox 360's dashboard consists of four menus that Microsoft likes to call 'blades'" With it, you can access Live's Marketplace, allowing you to download demos and Xbox Live Arcade games and other bits (often for a fee). You'll also be able to use Live's text and voice messaging services. If you want to play others online, however, you'll need to upgrade to Gold, which costs £5 for one month or £40 for a year. Gold membership also lets you use video chat and access a handful of exclusive offers via Marketplace. Neatly, a credit card is no longer essential for subscribing to Live, as subs can be purchased from shops and activated when you get home. Incidentally, if you've an existing Gamertag on your Xbox, you can retrieve both that and your Live account through your 360. The Dashboard The Xbox Live blade lets you check any received messages and see the status of those on your Friends list as well as visit Marketplace to download demos and trailers. Marketplace hosts all manner of content – from mods to new dashboard themes – some of which is free, and some of which costs Marketplace 'points'. £17.50 will get you 2100 points; typical purchases will be somewhere in the region of 400–1000 points for Live Arcade, for example, while smaller products cost far less – Kameo has seven dashboard themes on offer, for 150 points each. Game demos are free, with a handful accessible at launch, but you'll need a hard drive to store them, as with a vast majority of 360's downloadable content. The Games Blade allows you to sort through and play any Live Arcade titles or demos you've downloaded, while Media is where 360's slick functionality comes together. Here, you can plug in a portable device via one of 360's three USB ports (PSP, digital camera, MP3 player, etc.) and view your collections of pictures or listen to your music. If you've a properly networked computer, you can also stream music from it, and even use it as a custom soundtrack for any game as and when you want. Videos stored on your hard drive can also be viewed here, but streaming vids from your computer isn't as simple: you'll need to download some new software for Windows Media Centre to access that. Finally, the Settings area is hardly surprising, but does cram in a vast range of options, including some detailed parental settings that allow you to lockout games of a certain age-rating, as well as limiting Xbox Live functions and backwards compatibility. Gamer Profile Your profile also shows your 'zone', a category that describes just how you like to play your online games: Pro, Family, Recreation and Underground. The latter, by the way, means that anything goes – swearing, farting, yodelling, the lot. Brilliantly, you can also set certain defaults in your Gamer Profile, such as whether you play first-person shooters with inverted aim or southpaw sticks, or driving games with manual gears and chase-cam viewpoint. You earn points for your Gamerscore by completing Achievements; these are unique to each game, and can range from the dull (just completing a level) or the demanding (such as collecting every vehicle in a racing game). Each game offers a maximum of 1000 points, spread across the numerous Achievements. Some games have just a handful, while some can have up to 50. Through this profile, your friends can see just what you've been playing, and just how well you've been doing. And it definitely adds a competitive edge to things, if you're that way inclined. We've currently got a Gamerscore of 600 and 22 Achievements, and we're proud of it, dammit. The joypad The face buttons remain where they were, but the black/white buttons now live on the top of the pad as shoulder buttons, making them far more accessible. The Live headset plugs into a socket at the bottom of the pad instead of the top, while there's a new button in town – the big, fat Guide button. Taking pride of place in the centre of the pad, you can press it at any time during a game to bring up a menu containing your Gamer Profile and your custom soundtrack options, allowing you to check on your Live Friends or read/hear received messages or return to the main dashboard. The wired pad has a cable that's as long as that of the Controller S, and plugs into a USB port. Wireless pads are, thanks to their batteries, slightly heavier, and will require a recharging pack to be bought if you don't want to run them on standard batteries. 27 November Timesplitters Studio New TitleTimeSplitters creator Free Radical Design has partnered with French games giant Ubisoft, which has signed up to publish FRD's next game, planned for PC and next-gen consoles. Due sometime between summer 2006 and spring 2007, the game is as yet unnamed and is being aimed at older players. "It will feature difficult strategic choices and moral dilemmas, tapping into gamers' rational and emotional instincts," says Ubisoft. If it wasn't for the fact that Free Radical is a world-leading developer, and Ubisoft is likely to give it the space needed to craft a worthy experience, alarm bells would be ringing. 'Moral dilemma' gameplay almost always results in killing or saving people/planets/princesses, and nothing in between. After the successfully grown-up tones of psychic action game Second Sight, we owe Free Radical some dues, though, and await the details eagerly. Until then, we'll ponder just why FRD went with Ubisoft instead of its current publishing ally EA... |
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Lift the bottom off . . .
As mentioned, Jimmy won't be running around the schoolgrounds with an AK-47, but he will be able to administer all kinds of humiliating monkey shines to those around him who just happen to be defenseless and weak. Such is the nature of the bully. If bullies tackled kids tougher and stronger than them, they wouldn't be labelled bullies, they'd be called "the kids who got the crap kicked out of them". Most bullies don't even know how to fight. They often don't have to. They let their reputation do the dirty work for them - like Batman. Call a bully's bluff and you'll often see him quake in his boots. I was told this as a young boy who had bully troubles at school and what do you know? It was true. Mike, was the very large school bully at my school. He used to give me and the other small kids "atomic drops" which consisted of him picking up a body and slamming it down hard onto his knee. After a few of these I had had enough - even though Mike towered at least a solid 12 inches above me and outweighed me by 80 lbs. He grabbed me one day and I said to him "You touch me again, and I'm going to kill you. If you want to fight, let's fight." There is no way I could have beaten him in a fight, but I didn't have to. Mike didn't know how to fight. And the thought of being hurt, even by a kid as small as I was, terrified him. From that day on Big Mike became my friend and he stopped bullying people. If I hadn't experienced it firsthand, I would have never believed it. But it makes sense if you think about it. If you've never seen a bully in a fight, there is probably a good reason for that. 
Just in case the particular bully in your life happens to know how to fight, a purchase of Bully the videogame might be in order. It will allow you take out all of your pent up aggression on defenseless non-player characters peppered liberally around Bullworth Academy. Use your slingshot to cause havoc from afar (Jimmy's ranged weapon of choice) or simply beat them down with your fists. Rockstar Vancouver also suggests that Bully will feature a few mini-games such as hacky sack, dodgeball and perhaps even rugby or football. 
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