The multiplayer aspect works well because it operates a drop-in system whereby players can join and leave at will and it doesn’t overly affect the gameplay. There’s a lot of fun to be had here, though you really need to be into these cutesy, fixed camera multiplayer titles to find it. For me untimely death by being forced off a ledge was a real shame and certainly dented the overall experience.

Gameplay though is pretty cool, other than that annoying camera issue and untimely death thing, overall it works as a multiplayer experience. You can also upgrade weapons and of course team-up to dispatch enemies.

Graphically this is a “Ratchet & Clank” game, so environments and character models are as cute as ever, though there’s nothing really new here, not to say it’s bad, just don’t be expecting some sort of new dynamic, as there isn’t any. The sound is familiar to fans of the series, the only real negative that could be thrown at this title is slightly repetitive voice-acting lines. The story too has the usual humor interwoven, which is always welcome in this game series.

Overall “Ratchett & Clank: All 4 One” is a good, but not great game. There are better games in the series, though if you are a fan of multiplayer, this is probably going to be the one for you. If you’ve got a few youngsters in your family and you’re looking for something you can play with them, you could give this a try. Oh and for those of you with a 3D system, the game is 3D compatible.

Hooooo boy, where to begin. Okay positivity is good, so I’ll start this “PlayStation Move Ape Escape” game review by saying I liked “Ape Escape” on the PS2, when it was fun, fresh and a bit silly. The “Ape Escape” franchise has been bobbing along for over ten years and in that time we’ve seen a couple of great additions, sadly “PlayStation Move Ape Escape” is not one of them.

Female gamer angle, right, well the overall story is built around an all female affair, with two girls trying to find their missing granny. The story isn’t going to keep you gripped, there’s little depth and sense, but then the “Ape Escape” games aren’t overly known for their in-depth character driven stories. Still at least there’s some female character goodness.

There’s two ways to play “PlayStation Move Ape Escape”, Story Mode and Mini Games. Unlike other “Ape Escape” titles, the idea here isn’t to catch mischievous monkeys, these monkeys sort of drop in via UFO’s, again, with little sense. Things are also now on rails, rather than running around an open level looking for the cheeky guys. So what we have is an on rails shooter that sees you shoot the monkeys and the UFO’s or use the net to catch them. The whole thing feels more than a little flat.

The PlayStation Move controller does the job, it just doesn’t help the game is a bit of a dog after the initial fun wears away. I hate writing such a short review, but fellow gamers, there really isn’t much more to say, this is an average video game aimed – one imagines – squarely at the kiddie market, with its bright colors, simple setup and naff story.

Given just how good the initial couple of “Ape Escape” titles were, this is a sad state of affairs, the addition of the PlayStation Move does little to add to the game, even though it does work accurately. The charm and fun of the original is lost in “PlayStation Move Ape Escape” which feels like a free demo as opposed to a full game. No monkey business here, just an unpolished, slightly below average title. Shame.

Looking forward to Yakuza 4, you’ll be happy to know there will be two Limited Editions exclusively for the Playstation 3. In addition to the Standard Edition, SEGA will be releasing the Kuro Edition (Black Edition) and the Shiro Edition (White Edition). Each edition is available to pre-order now from selected retailers, with exclusive pre-order items on offer.

The Kuro Edition features Yakuza 4 encased in a black steel book with a silver dragon motif of Kazuma’s tattoo, four pieces of bonus content featuring unlockable costumes and battle modes previously only available in Japan, all enclosed in a plastic o-ring sleeve. The Kuro Edition is available to pre-order exclusively from EB Games stores. Customers who pre-order the Kuro Edition will receive the Ichiban Box (Number One Box) as a pre-order offer. The Ichiban Box includes a hostess calendar and an authentic rice bowl with chopsticks, packaged in a noodle-style box.

The Shiro Edition features Yakuza 4 encased in a white steel book with a silver dragon motif of Kazuma’s tattoo, four pieces of bonus content featuring unlockable costumes and battle modes previously only available in Japan, all enclosed in a plastic o-ring sleeve. The Shiro Edition is available to pre-order now from JB Hi Fi stores offering a copy of Yakuza 3 for free for all customers who pre-order, and from GAME stores offering an exclusive Yakuza 4 t-shirt for all customers who pre-order.

All three editions including the Standard Edition, are available to pre-order now with exclusive pre-order items being offered by EB Games, JB Hi Fi, and GAME stores nationwide.

Yakuza 4 will be released for the Playstation 3 and will be available nationwide on 24th March 2011.

  None – but Blair Williams is nice! by LesbianGamers

Terminator Salvation falls under a category of games that feature words that strike horror in every gamers heart “movie tie-in”. Yes a video game that ties in with a movie release will generally be a big pile of cash in, though this isn’t always the case. When you’re dealing with as huge a franchise as the Terminator, the developers really need to come up with something a little special, or gamers are likely to go a little Christian Bale in their reviews.

Let’s begin with the setting. As with the Terminator franchise, there are killer robots galore, though unlike the previous movies, they inhabit the post apocalyptic future we’ve come to fear, as opposed to traveling back to our time. You take on the role of John Connor in this bleak future setting, a resistance fighter and would be savior of mankind. Connor is played by Christian Bale in the movie, but not in the game where he is notably absent, replaced by a character model resembling Commander Shepherd from Mass Effect, chiseled, good looking and out to kick some ass.

Our hero is central to the story, which essentially revolves around him (you) finding his feet as the leader / savior type, rallying the troops and going on a suicide rescue mission. Sadly though, that’s about as deep as the story becomes, there’s no terminator in jokes, no real depth of character to be found, there is merely a linear point A to B metal bloodbath.

Controlling Connor is a simple task and the developers did do well to stick with a tried and true control method for the usual run and gun titles and herein lay Terminator Salvations one redeeming quality, its cover mechanic. Where all else seems fairly bland Terminator Salvation utilizes a cover system that – in any other big budget game – would actually be pretty cool. You can slide into cover so you’re hidden from enemy sight and use the thumbstick to choose the direction of your next cover leap, sneakily moving and sliding from one point of cover to another. This for us was one of the highlights of an otherwise average game.

Enemies in Terminator Salvation ranged from fairly tough to just plain stupid. There seemed little continuity with some enemies floating aimlessly in your gun sights as though half asleep, whilst others did seem to try and use clever tactics to never put themselves in a vulnerable position, meaning you do have to flank them to move on.

Character / machine models also ranged from fairly mediocre and repetitive to some fairly nice attempts at humanizing the bleak future. The post apocalyptic L.A. setting was dusty, sepia and fit well, but there was really nothing here that you wont have seen before and probably done to better effect. The sound in Terminator Salvation did a nice job of keeping you in the moment, though the notable absence of lead character Bale stuck out like a sore thumb. Bale’s absence however was tempered somewhat by the voice acting of another star of the film, in the form of Moon Bloodgood as kick ass resistance fighter Blair Williams. Rose McGowan also lends voice to the game, as the whiny character of Angie (she does not appear in the film).

Lesbian Content
Lesbian characters, well who can say. What we can say is there were more than a few butchies lurking here and there, but none were a patch on Blair Williams, John Connors sidekick for the story. Williams really could have led the story and they could have ditched John Connor altogether, particularly given Christian Bale didn’t make an appearance anyway. The game for us would probably have been better had Blair Williams taken on the lead role, but you can’t have everything. We should probably point out here – spoiler lite – that Williams did manage to die on us at one point, only to reappear as if my magic in the next level. This aspect of the game could be applicable to other areas of the title also, since it was jarring and felt like the developer had slipped up, more than a bit.

Overall we don’t want to bag Terminator Salvation too much because despite it being a cash cow to tie-in with the film release, we did actually enjoy playing it, despite its many flaws. The one unforgivable aspect however comes in the form of its length. We finished this title in around 5 hours, which sounds good if you’ve rented it as you’ll get to see it finished, but if you’ve just spent 90 bucks on it, is probably going to make you very angry. All up if you like the Terminator franchise we’d suggest this as a rental, given the length this would be a far better avenue than a full purchase, as there’s sadly little replay value.

Our L Word Rating:

The LG Straight Up Review:
Come wid me if you vant to play a game that lasts around 5 hours, has average 3rd person gameplay, a few female characters, including the lovely Blair Williams, sidekick to the non Christian Bale version of John Connor. Run, slide, shoot, bit of story, onto the next bit, run, shoot, bit of story, onto the next bit…. oh… it finished.

If you fancy your Terminator Salvation review in video format Gay Girls Who Game covered this title in Episode 53 (Season Three – Episode 9).

You can comment on Terminator Salvation or our Terminator Salvation game review HERE.

Nariko and Kratos in LittleBigPlanet, say it’s so, say its so! The official PlayStation blog is reporting details of the pre-order campaign that will coincide with the release of LittleBigPlanet on the PS3. Sadly for us outside the USA it does say ‘North American’ retailers, but here’s hoping it’s actually worldwide.

In amongst all the pre-order goodness is a special sticker book, a burlap pouch (pencil case type thing and most importantly for us Heavenly Sword fans… an exclusive downloadable costume of Nariko from Heavenly Sword. God of War fans, you’ll also be thrilled with the exclusive downloadable costume of Kratos.

Images – so adorable – after the jumperoo.

On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad do we want this? 10, definitely a 10!

God of War fans tell us you’re not excited!

For the full rundown on all the cool LBP pre-order goodness head on over to the Official PlayStation Blog.

Resistance Fall of Man 2
This got a fair bit of screen time needless to say, but it’s old news now isn’t it. They id say it’s more than a single player game now with 8 player co-op and 60 player competitive. It also “offers more than any shooter in 2008”…. Riiiiight.

God of War III PS3 announced
No one was shocked at this announcement and there was diddly all else said about it other than pretty trailer with lots of, well, GoW mayhem.

MAG: Massive Action Game by Sony
Sony announced a new game presently titled ‘MAG: Massive Action Game’ – though it looked a little SOCOM – and they’re saying it will be playable with up to 256 players. I have to say I’m dubious of such a claim given my experience online with the PS3 with less than 10 players, but we’ll see. The game will include large scale airdrops and squad combat.

LittleBigPlanet delayed a tad
Apparently it will be October now and reiterated upon, so not that much longer to wait. Not that shocking given just how many PS3 titles hit the slippage road.

Greatest Hits retail US for $30.
Titles in the Greatest Hits for PS3 include: Assassin’s Creed, COD3, Fight Night, MotorStorm, NFS Carbon. Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Oblivion, Resistance, R6 Vegas. Staggered release dates.

PS2 rolling out over 130 titles
Yes the PS2 is still a hot property with loads of titles coming out over the next 12 months or so. Some of the big ones: Yakuza 2, Madden, Mercenaries 2, NCAA Football 09, SingStar Pop Vol. 2, Star Wars Force Unleashed, Tiger Woods, Warriors Orochi 2. To list but a few.

Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty announced
Don’t get too excited, it’s a PSN title. It will be cheaper, but also shorter, oh no, please tell us episodic gaming isn’t coming to Ratchet and Clank! Seems so. Other PSN titles shown: Fat Princess, flOwer, PixelJunk Eden, Ragdoll Kung Fu, Siren Blood Curse.

LocoRoco 2 announced for PSP – Yay!
Amongst the PSP titles announced at E3, one stood out for us, yes it’s LocoRoco 2! We loved the first, so here’s hoping the second is just as zany. Also announced: Buzz! Master Quiz, Midnight Club: L.A., NBA 09 Inside, Patapon 2, Resistance: Retribution, Super Stardust Portable and Valkyria Chronicles.

]]> 2008/07/sony-e3-2008-presser-rundown/feed/ 5 2008/07/free-ps3-with-sony-bravia-tvs/ 2008/07/free-ps3-with-sony-bravia-tvs/#comments Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:38:04 +0000 Lesbian Gamers index.php/2008/07/free-ps3-with-sony-bravia-tvs/

Sony has a sweet deal running at the moment if you happen to live in the land downunder. Sony’s BRAVIA LCD TV bonus PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) giveaway means you can redeem a free PS3 with the purchase of certain Sony Bravia TV’s. The offer starts today!

Following the release of the new and improved BRAVIA V and W series, Sony is offering the perfect set-up for high definition heaven and a complete Blu-ray solution, all in one easy purchase which is sweet for gamers since they get a free PS3. We include the countdown below showing how many PS3′s are still available. If you’re looking to upgrade your TV, you might want to check the official site HERE.

Let’s get this out of the way firstly.. I’m no fangirl. I love many and varied machines for many and varied games, but I do have complaints and they’re about the PS3. I’ve had a PS3 since launch, I wasn’t giddy with excitement to get one, but I’d always had new machines on launch. The reason for non giddiness was lack of games on launch. Motorstorm was about the only one of interest and it turned out to be a bit of a dog.

So here’s the thing, I’ve been playing MGS4 recently and it’s kind of been the straw that broke the camels back. Again it’s one of those games that must install to the HD when you first load, then it continues to do so throughout. Clearly BluRay isn’t up to loading times I’m assuming. Sadly that’s not my only issue. I write this to see if these things bug anyone else, or is it just me.. I list my PS3 complaints after the jump…

Updates!
Bloody updates, almost every time I turn my console on the thing updates and sometimes it takes more than 15 minutes to download some update before I can do anything. Annoying? you betchya bright colored stripey socks it is!

HD Installs
On games… most games!! My Xbox 360 doesn’t need to install every frakkin game I put in it to its HD, but the PS3 does, why that thing loves to make me feel like I’m loading games off the C64 Datasette.. annoying.. oh yes.. yes it is. Bloody archaic.

Controller Possessed
Well that’s how I see it, because the light plastic brick has a mind all its own. Oh yes, it’s the Amityville Horror of controllers. It turns itself off on a regular basis for no apparent reason, even whilst you’re using it. It needs to be plugged in for resynchronizing (I assume that’s why) for no apparent reason and every now and again it speaks in tongues and refers to itself as Captain Howdy [OK that last one's not true.. but at least that would be interesting].

Playstation Store Pain
Maybe I’m too used to XBLM, but the Playstation Store is a pain in the derrière. It feels clunky to navigate and on more than one occasion it’s actually flipped me back to the main page when I’ve tried to download something. I haven’t DL’d anything on it for an age as you can’t resume like you can on XBL, you need to restart.

Exclusive Disappointments
Yeah, I know, the world loves MGS4, it’s sold a gazillion machines. Clearly I’m not feeling the love, it’s just all a bit of a weird borefest for me at the moment. Haze HAHAHAHA.. sorry. LAIR… good grief! I will say Heavenly Sword and Drake’s Fortune rocked though, but 2 out of however many ain’t that great. Oh and waiting for the PS3 releases sucks when they’re out on 360 way before usually.

What’s it Good For?
BluRay is awesome, there I said it, I really like the menu interface on some films and the clarity for a movie buff like me is awesome, so at least the PS3 rocks for that.

So how about you fellow PS3 owners, do you love or loathe your machine? Do you have issue with any of these problems or do you just think meh and get on with it? I’d do that, I’m a fairly patient person, but not when it feels like my gaming has jumped back to the late 80′s… all that’s missing is a lot of colored lines on screen whilst things load… you remember them.. assuming you’re old enough… right…

We’re back with a gaming news rundown. You’ll find the big gaming news stories of the week, all tied up in a lovely pink bow. OK you got us, there really isn’t a pink bow, but there is lots of gaming news, starting with this one….

Resident Evil 5 online co-op mode
According to a now deleted story on Resident Evil 5 that hit the net and promptly disappeared, Resident Evil 5 will feature Chris Redfield and a female character in co-op. The second character will be AI controlled with a player being able to use a drop in and out mode to join and exit playing at any point (great for when a friend pops round). Sounds cool.

Loads more after the jumperoo!

God of War II on Guitar Hero III
PS3 fans don’t cry over that free Halo song your Xbox 360 pals got for their Guitar Hero loving. On June 5 the Playstation Store will get ‘The End Begin’s (to Rock)’ add-on for PS3 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It’s released in all regions apparently, so go get your Kratos on!

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party
Shown at UbiDays along with FarCry 2 and of course Beyond Good & Evil 2, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party sounds like yet more mini game mayhem, only this time it can utilize the Wii balance board. You can sit on it and toboggan on an upside down cow… mooooove out of the way!!!

Taiko no Tatsujin for Wii (Taiko Drum Master)
According to a recent announcement Namco Bandai are bringing Taiko Drum Master to the Nintendo Wii. Hopefully this version will see a release outside of Japan and the US.

Alone in the Dark hands on – linear but damn good
That’s the upshot of hands on rumblings for Alone in the Dark for Xbox 360, PC, PS2, Wii and PS3 later in the year (what a surprise). Word is it’s a compelling storyline, great narrative, beautiful graphics and atmospheric sound. Assuming the full game lives up to these early reports, it’s going to be awesome. Oh and there’ll be a demo of it released on XBLM a week or so before the game.

Venetica starring the daughter of death
… and she’s a bit of a looker. Venetica is an upcoming game from German developers Deck 13 and features a female protagonist in the form of Scarlett – deaths daughter. GirlGamers Australia did a write up about it, so if interested check it out. Sounds like it might be cool story wise at least.

Guitar Hero World Tour priced
Thought RockBand was expensive, wait till you have to shell out $190USD for Guitar Hero World Tour. The bundle includes the mike, guitar and funky drums. For those into mathematics, that’s $20 more than the USD price for the Rock Band bundle. For those who live in Europe and Australia, expect to sell your granny to afford this title as it will probably be twice that based on the Rock Band pricing.

Women in Games conference UK
This year’s Women in Games event, co-organized with Rare Ltd. will take place at Warwick University from the 10th-12th September. Blitz Games Studios is co sponsoring the event. The Women In Games conference encourages research and seeks to promote careers for women within the games industry, which sounds cool to us. You can check out more at the Women in Games website.

TidBits:
No Splinter Cell Conviction at Ubidays – Ubisoft vague as ever.
Saints Row 2 delayed until October – Product quality to blame.
Gears of War 2 multiplayer – 10 player deathmatch, AI bots and screenshot capture available.
Warhammer: Age of Reckoning is PvP with a dash of PvE says Mythic.
Poss Spoiler: Metal Gear Solid female characters make a return in MGS4 – Mai Ling and Rosemary.
Fatal Frame 4 aka Rei: Tsukihami no Kamen looks creepy. Launches Japan July 31 Japan (no other release dates yet).
Sim City Creator coming to Wii and DS (here’s hoping it’s better than Sim City DS which was awful!).
Dark Horizon space combat in ‘Wing Commander’ style hits PC’s later this year by Paradox Interactive.