LittleBigPlanet full DLC version coming soon!

LittleBigPlanet is a great game but it falls under the banner of a “DLC” game & honestly I’m starting to get really sick of developers making a game only to release downloadable content a few months later that you have to pay for. don’t get me wrong LittleBigPlanet well deserves all the DLC but it feels a little like a rip-off when after you shell out the full price of the game the offer so much new content for yet even more money. It came out last November & now they are planning to release a “game of the year edition” that will feature both the game & all the DLC content of the past year or so. The original game is super cheap now but if you don’t have the game I’d suggest waiting for the new edition & hopefully it will include all the Ghostbusters & metal gear solid stuff too.

Holy Tree Stump.. ?

Religion ..hate it or love it but its everywhere & you cant escape it .. I know as anywhere I go in Ireland there is never a church far from view & normally it doesn’t bother me but when people see the virgin Mary in a cup of tea or on a slice of toast I have to wonder. Today thousands of Catholics are flocking to a county limerick church to pray to a tree stump.. The reason? This tree stump looks a little like the virgin Mary. Apparently during a recent storm a tree fell only to reveal the image of the blessed mother. At first a few dozen people showed up to witness the stump.. Then hundreds now its thousands. The local church themselves take the stand that its not a miracle & that people need to stop flocking to it because it really is only a tree stump & not divine. I suppose people would like to think it was something special because it might give them hope in a time where the world is hit with hard economic times ..true back in the 1980s when there was a recession & many people claimed to see images of Mary popping up everywhere. The stump has boosted the parish’s local trade but as for me I’ll start worrying about it when she appears in my bathroom or in one of my own trees.

Prototype - game review (PS3) also on Xbox 360 & PC

So at the moment there are two games on the market that came out around the same time as each other that both involve super hero like characters, anyone who knows their gaming stuff will know the two games I’m talking about are infamous & Prototype. First off I want to say that the IGN review for Prototype was one of the most misleading & biased reviews I have ever seen on any site & after seeing it & playing Prototype I will be avoiding IGN from now on.

Prototype is available on both the xbox 360 & the play station 3 while inFamous is a ps3 exclusive so straight away its going to be difficult for people to really compare both games unless they have both systems, lucky for me I do have both systems so I can give a full review on both games. I wanted to play through both of them before I wrote anything about either of them but after I started playing Prototype I found it impossible to put down so I’m going to give a quick review of Prototype then over the next few days I’ll do a review of inFamous followed shortly by a direct comparison of both. Because the games are supposed to be so similar to each other I’ll do both reviews in the same layout starting of course with Prototype.

You play the character of alex mercer but of course all is not what it seems, alex is dead but soon returns back to life only to discover he has strange powers. He reminds me of a cross between the t-1000 from terminator 2 & carnage from spiderman. When you escape the morgue you are plunged into a city where a mysterious yet volatile virus has turned the inhabitants into ravenous zombie like creatures. The military & a special branch of the military known as blackwatch are seizing control of city & there are tanks & special forces everywhere. Luckily though you have your powers to deal with the threat of both the creatures & the military & initially when you start the game you blessed with all of mercers powers however soon after you loose most of them & have to gain them back.

The game itself is bloody & brutal but that doesn’t take away from the fun element, and of course most games with an M/18+ rating are bloody good fun. Mercers powers are extremely varied & each one can be upgraded or bought using experience points. The virus in Alex gives him the power to shift his body into all forms of weapons such as giant razor sharp claws that can slice through his enemies like a hot knife through butter, he can also form whips & shields that are great for dispatching huge crowds of enemies, he also has the ability to consume people & in doing so he steals their form so he becomes an exact replica of that person. On top of that Alex can leap over buildings & even run up walls/buildings & all kinds of surfaces.. Doing this is relatively easy & great fun to do especially if you are just roaming around the city exploring & there is a lot to explore.

The free roaming in the game is a nice way to find your way around & to get used to the many powers & controls your character possess. The city itself is obviously supposed to be Manhattan & you will stumble upon many landmarks such as the empire state building & central park. Scattered around the city are glowing orbs to collect that give you experience points & its easy enough to find them as they can be seen from the top of buildings. Along with the orbs there are tons of mini-games all over the city that really add life to the whole package & you actually will want to do them, these mini games are in the form of challenges that will require you to annihilate huge groups of military/consume specific targets/complete time trails & much much more. A nice little feature is the web of intrigue, Alex is suffering from amnesia & therefore must consume certain characters to fit together the pieces of the puzzle & those characters are located all over the city & can be consumed at any time even during a mission.

The graphics are not amazing & many game reviewers have pointed this out but all in all they are not THAT bad & they are only like that because all of the processing power goes into the combat & the huge number of people on screen at any moment ..there are hundreds of people on screen & it feels more genuine that way ..of course some people will argue that they are mindless & only cannon fodder. The controls & character movements are super smooth & you will be leaping from building to effortlessly within minutes of picking the controller up. The frame-rate is perfect & I have yet to see any slowdown of any kind even with hundreds of characters running around & lots of enemies attacking me at once including tanks & helicopters ..oh I forgot to mention as you play through the game you will gain the ability to hijack military equipment including tanks & choppers. The pop-in that IGN mentioned is NOT there so I’d love to know what version of the game they actually played. The sound & voice acting is adequate & its never really felt cheap or half done to me.. But the story is a little confusing & if you don’t complete the web of intrigue you will find yourself scratching your head as to what is actually going on.

Ok so the story can get a little confusing & the graphics wont blow you away but the playability is amazing & it doesn’t feel rushed because you can think about how you are going to approach a certain task or mission & carry it out with all guns blazing or by using cunning & stealth. The free roam is much better than I expected & you will actually enjoy exploring the various sites & buildings, I’m still trying to collect the glowing orbs but so far have had a great time running up buildings to find them on ledges or hidden away in alleyways ..they are generally found above ground so if you are hunting for them I’d suggest finding a high vantage point. I can see myself playing through this game more than once because it really is tremendous fun ..however it has been rated M & it can get very gory at some points but the action is so fast paced that it doesn’t really shock too much. If you are after a karma based game where you can play as good or bad then I wouldn’t recommend Prototype.. However if you are after a fast paced fun filled brawler then I highly recommend it, just be warned you will loose more than a few nights sleep as its bloody addictive. Keep watching this space for my review of inFamous.

Syphon Filter 5 & Socom 4.. ?

There is a rumour going around about a possible new Socom game in the making ..its been 4 years now since a proper Socom game has been released (no Confrontation does not count) the developers are also supposed to be making a fifth Syphon Filter game but there is very little information out there about either of them. Its likely that both games will use facial capturing but nothing has been confirmed yet. I loved the Syphon Filter series & the Socom games so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for this one.

Mafia app to cash in on Twitter

Twitter Inc.'s founders still haven't decided how to cash in on their popular Internet messaging service — to the delight of a rapidly growing audience. But the deliberate approach may not prevent a gold rush among opportunistic outsiders. Lolplaying, the maker of a new role-playing game on Twitter called 140 Mafia, is trying to explore Twitter's moneymaking potential with Super Rewards, a "virtual currency" service that already has been reaping revenue from various forms of online recreation.

Super Rewards gives players of online and mobile games ways to gain the upper hand against their opponents. The price: a fee, or a willingness to accept offers from advertisers. It's already proven to be a lucrative model at Facebook and MySpace, as well as on the iPhone. Now Super Rewards co-founder Jason Bailey is confident it will pay off on Twitter as 140 Mafia attracts more players.

"I'm already making more money from Twitter than Twitter is itself," Bailey boasted. And Bailey figures other programmers who have designed games and other applications for the service will be scrambling to capitalize on their innovations. If that happens, Bailey thinks Twitter will need to impose more controls over the external applications and perhaps even demand a cut of the sales — an approach that Apple Inc. has embraced for its iPhone. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone didn't respond to a request for comment. He has previously emphasized the San Francisco-based startup doesn't need to generate revenue right now, partly because it still has most of the $55 million that it raised from venture capitalists. Super Rewards doesn't need any venture capital, according to Bailey, who said the 40-employee company is on pace to reach $100 million in revenue this year. Super Rewards shares some of its revenue with game makers. Most people pay Super Rewards about $10 for a competitive advantage, but some game players have forked over thousands of dollars, Bailey said.

"It's all about ego and status for them," he said. "Clearly, some people have more money than brains."

Fashion designers ready for Brüno

Planning on catching new comedy Brüno when it hits cinemas this Friday? You’re far from alone. The latest big screen adventure for comedy chameleon Sacha Baron Cohen follows in the film footsteps of his hugely successful 2006 hit, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and expectations for more shocking humour are high. But it’s not just the chance to see Baron Cohen outrage more of the American public that has excited some fashion designers, rather the eccentric and flamboyant fashions sported by his titular Austrian fashion reporter.

Questioned on the film, Austrian fashion designer, Lena Horschek revealed to the Associated Press at last week’s Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Berlin, Germany that she’s looking forward to it. The designer who favours an ‘old Hollywood’ style and has clothed stars like pop princess Katy Perry adds: “I think it’s gonna be a fun film.” Also keen to book his seat for the movie is Munich-based designer Marcel Ostertag though he’s concerned that the film’s depiction of the fashion industry will be far from flattering. “The world of fashion isn’t really like what he shows,” he says, without having yet seen the film. “I can laugh about it because I liked Borat, but I am also worried if people will take him seriously.”

Bank of Ireland ripped off by computer expert

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard how a computer specialist for the Bank of Ireland, increased his girlfriend’s overdraft limit to over €40,000 and withdrew almost €50,000 from ATM's over two months.

Wiktor Wolcaski, originally from Wroclaw, Poland, pleaded guilty to seven counts of theft and using a computer for fraud in March and February 2008, said he needed the money because his girlfriend had an unnamed medical problem which he believed required an operation. Wolcaski had been living in Ireland since 2005 and had got a job in the Debt Recovery Unit. In September 2007, his girlfriend opened a Bank Of Ireland account and shortly afterwards, Wolcaski began to gradually alter her account by increasing its overdraft and credit rating. He initially raised the daily withdrawal limit to the maximum of €1,300 a day and then gradually increased the overdraft limit until it reached €47,000. Finally, he altered the credit rating to make it look more favourable to lend to.

Over the course of two months, Wolcaski went to ATM machines across Dublin almost daily and usually withdrew the maximum amount allowed. His problems started when an alert system highlighted the unusual withdrawals to the Fraud Prevention Unit of the bank. The suspicions were investigated and, because the changes had been made using Wolcaski's username, Gardai were called in and Wolcaski was arrested.

Bank of Ireland recovered most of the money from his home and other banks whose ATMs Wolcaski used to make withdrawals.

Red Faction: Guerrilla - DLC content coming soon!

Publisher of Red Faction: Guerrilla, THQ, finally announced that Red Faction: Guerrilla will be receiving three new DLC packs for the PS3 & Xbox 360 editions.

The first of those three expansions comes in the form of "Demons of the Badlands" which will arrive on August 13. While screenshots of the upcoming "Demons" look similar to the original game, the action is guaranteed to be fresh, with an all new "destructive single-player mission arc that takes place in a new Mars landscape outside of the game's expansive world."

Priced at $10 for the PlayStation Network & Xbox Live (800 MS points), the title will be ready for download later this summer on August 13, 2009. I'll most likley be getting it & if its good enough I'll add a little review but I have to say I'm of two minds lately when it comes to downloadable content.. its good because it offers fresh play but sometimes it's not worth the money.. time will tell. I'm really looking forward to the DLC pack for the PS3 version of Fallout3.