NEW HYPE

OK... My Star trek online hype is over... The game is a few days from release and beta is over... So now what? what else can i get hyped over? Well when I was picking up Demon's Souls I was asked if i wanted to pre-order Final Fantasy XIII. So i said what the hell and pre-ordered it. So yesterday on my day off I started looking up trailers. sure I've looked at them before but not in depth. Now I'm Excited and I cant wait.

Video Games | Final Fantasy XIII | International Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Alex

Final Fantasy XIII Music On A Record

Square Enix is selling a selection of songs from Final Fantasy XIII on a vinyl record with the l’cie mark.

W/F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII has eight songs, four on each side.



Side A
Nautilus
Fang’s Theme
Sunleth Waterscape
Father Keep Fighting


Side B
Pulse de Chocobo
Colorless World
Final Fantasy XIII Battle Theme
Ragnarok – Sans Pipe Organ -

Collectors and DJs that are also Final Fantasy fans can purchase the record from Square Enix’s online store for 2,800 yen ($31). Just for comparison, the complete Final Fantasy XIII soundtrack on CD goes for 3,990 yen ($45).

Kotaku review: demon's Souls(Alex wants this game)

Dare to enter the kingdom of Boletaria and you may regret it, brave warrior. Demon's Souls is a harsh world, perverted by ancient evils and men gone mad at the loss of their souls. But what of your own sanity?

From Software's PlayStation 3 role-playing game sloughs off many of the conventions one typically associates with Japanese RPGs, putting players into a world unlike any other. The real-time action RPG features a heavy focus on hand-to-hand combat, not calculated menu choices. There are no party members to recruit, no love interests to pursue. There are only demon's to slay and souls to collect and a goal—defeat the Old One and free Boletaria from its colorless curse.

Demon's Souls is full of complex challenges and complex concepts, a game with no traditional save point system, no pause option and no coddling of the player who may have become accustomed to simpler, more forgiving fare. it is a hellish place of suffering, where men are routinely crushed by the powerful demonspawn that inhabit it.

So, why, then is Demon's Souls so rewarding, so refreshing and so engrossing? Here's why.

Loved
A New Brand Of Survival Horror: Fear is a constant in Demon's Souls, at least during your first unfamiliar adventure in the kingdom of Boletaria, as death can come to the player at any moment. These frequent deaths—which will become more frequent to the player not mindful of the world around them—are by design. Demon's Souls is meant to be studied, to be carefully considered and for its world to be absorbed. Its inhabitants are meant to be feared, so that the player can learn how to dispatch of them properly. You may die in Demon's Souls dozens, in not a hundred times or more. But you'll become the better player for it, mindful of your fear.

A World In Need Of Mending: Beyond the need for self-preservation, Demon's Souls offers a heavy dose of gloom and doom through its well-realized, beautifully designed lands. From the prisons of the Tower Of Latria, closely guarded by Mind Flayers, to the depths of the Stonefang Tunnel, guarded by fire-spewing beasts, each of Demon's Souls five massive environments offers something new to be awed by, to be afraid of. And each of those five worlds come with their unique inhabitants, their own trappings, new rules for the player to observe and new denizens to dread. The one safe haven for the few unscathed humans, The Nexus, is a gorgeous elaborate structure. But it is soon dwarfed by the massive castles and major demons that the player will face.

Demon's Souls' world is both fantastic and realistic, never patronizing the player. For the most part, the player is free to visit any of its diverse lands in the order of their choosing, letting the player decide how to navigate the world. And thanks to Demon's Souls' fluctuating World and Character Tendency system, which changes Boleteria's populace and environments based on a number of factors, the game world offers plenty to do beyond the first play through. This is a world worth revisiting, death after death after death.

Major Demons: Depending on how you play Demon's Souls, whether your world ventures towards white or black, you'll face over a dozen impressive and diverse bosses. All of them are memorable in some way, from the quiet calm of facing the Old Hero, to the massive scale of tackling the Dragon God, to the shocking tension of facing the Penetrator or Flame Lurker. Or any of Demon's Souls spectacularly designed demons, for that matter. Some can simply be dispatched with hundreds of arrows from a hiding spot, but others will require ample dexterity, a calm demeanor and smart strategy. Some may invoke warm feelings of another PlayStation hallmark, Shadow of the Colossus, due to their impressive magnitude.

Simple Made Complex: Where other role-playing games throw complex upgrade paths and a flood of weapons, armor and items at the player to create the illusion of depth, Demon's Souls offers it genuinely. Strategic trade-offs must be made in your choices of what to equip, how to fight and where to engage your enemy in battle. Demon's Souls offers a simple base upon which to build its system—the ten starting character class templates—then lets the player decide how to progress from there. It's both freeing and rewarding.

Massively Multiplayer Loneliness: Demon's Souls features a rather unique online multiplayer component. Players will see, but not hear or touch, the echo of other Demon's Souls players, each fighting demons in their own instance of the world. Players can also read or leave messages for others, attempting to help strangers (and help themselves) during their adventure. Bloodstains left by fallen comrades in other instances can also be left behind, illustrating how other adventurers died, a warning to first-timers of what awaits them in the next step.

Demon's Souls does have a more traditional multiplayer component to it, letting players summon other warriors to their world as spirits, teaming up to tackle major demons. But other players can also invade your world in Black Phantom form, adding a player versus player gambling element to the experience. There is no voice chat, there is no lobby to join, which may seem like a drawback. But this implementation further entrenches the feeling in Demon's Souls players that the lonely existence of demon slaying is largely theirs alone to do.

The Soul Economy: Demon's Souls soul system adds a fascinating layer of strategy to the game. Souls, which you'll collect from fallen enemies and find scattered about Boletaria's land, serve as currency, experience and materials. You'll need them to upgrade your character and your weapons, resulting in an interesting trade-off. And should you die in one of Demon's Souls worlds, you'll lose your current soul stock—unless you find your own bloodstain—making the decision to soldier on or return to the Nexus for upgrades a constant struggle.

Torchlight: Demon's Souls is dark and it is best played in the dark. And while it might seem odd to highlight the game's lighting, it's expertly crafted. Not so much from a technical sense, but that the player must be mindful of the glowing souls, the deadly exploding Will o' Wisps, the torches, the glowing eyes that populate every dark room. There's much the player can glean from Demon's Souls lights as they cut through the blackness.

After Careful Consideration: This is a hard game. Cruel, punishing, unforgiving, relentless, sadistic... whatever you want to call it, Demon's Souls is a challenge. But you'll learn. You'll adapt. And if you're careful, attentive to the events occurring around you, you'll be fine. That Demon's Souls demands this, making the game feel more like pure horror than the traditional fun one expects of a video game, eventually spellbinding the player, is what makes the game so enjoyable.

Hated
My First Few Hours: This may make me sound like a wimp—and ultimately a crazed Demon's Souls zealot—but you need to know. Demon's Souls was, for me, torture for the first few hours. I didn't "get it." I didn't play games this way. I've played difficult action games, like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry and Otogi, and enjoyed them. But Demon's Souls is different, requiring a unique mindset—and, in my case, some help from the Demon's Souls community. Eventually, pain gave way to pleasure as I learned to appreciate the game's strict rule set, ultimately becoming absorbed by the game. You may hate Demon's Souls from start to finish for its difficulty. But I'd wager you'll come to appreciate it as I did.

Faces, Fonts & Frame Rates: There are a handful of presentation issues holding back Demon's Souls, none of them game breaking, but worth mentioning. Despite Demon's Souls' overall beauty, it has some of the ugliest character faces I've seen. Character creation is a turn off, because most options look as monstrous as the demons themselves. The game's interface also has a few quirks, with no easy way to compare items from vendors with current equipment and an icon system for attributes that has its own unnecessary, confusing language. Finally, there are a few moments where Demon's Souls can't keep up with what's happening on screen. Nothing that impairs gameplay, but not pretty.

When I talk about Demon's Souls with some of my fellow players, I feel that we're in danger of sounding like a part of some cult—or, possibly worse, a group of addicts—as if we've gotten over the hurdle of viewing From Software's brilliant, visionary creation just for its sheer difficulty. And it is difficult. But it is also laden with a smart combat system, in which equipment and weapons matter greatly, for so many reasons. But having pushed past the fog of Demon's Souls, which meant spending well over 50 hours with the game, I'm happy to see it for what it is—one of the best PlayStation 3 games of the year and perhaps one of the smartest console role-playing games ever.

To be clear, however, Demon's Souls is not some orgiastic, blissful experience. It is not the type of game one may want to wind down with, less than "fun" in a normal video game sense. But it is a wholly engrossing, enjoyably solitary experience, if you've got the patience and the bravery to look into the fog and face what's inside.




Ok so I'm seriously thinking about buying this game it looks so good.

Alex

NEW NEW NEW

OK so We here at the gamersanon studios have come up with some new stuff for all of you.

Presenting [Gamersanon*TV]



where you can watch us play games, watch anime, live podcast or the brand new
OMGWTF show.

What about when were not on? watch it any way for commercials made by us as well as episodes of anime or OMGWTF show.

What is the OMGWTF show?
Its Alex's own show where he talks about anything and everything. just whatever he feels like at the time. join us Tuesday and Thursday nights 9PM EST

TONIGHT: I'm doing the first OMGWTF show i know it isnt tuesday or thursday but whatever. Join us!

How can you watch? go to the live feed!

Alex

number 10

Episode 10 is up go to the list of podcast section and go get it!
(pic unrelated)

Alex

Star trek Online beta

OK so I pre-ordered star trek online and I received my beta key. And ive been playing it alot... "It's taken you away from WoW" -Edsel Its amazeing be sure to keep checking here im gonna wright up a full review of my beta experience...Or do a video.. who knows.

Alex

Spiderman 4 hurting warcraft movie?

Spider-Man 4 has fallen apart. Sam Raimi has walked from the film. But what does this mean for Warcraft?

Director Raimi felt as though he could not realistically deliver the film he wanted to make by the studio's due date, causing the director to pull out of the comic book franchise, scrapping the film.

According to website Deadline.com, Raimi told Sony before walking from Spider-Man 4: "I can't make your date. I can't go forward creatively." It seemed that Sony wanted Spider-Man 4 to be shot in 3D, something that no one on the crew was apparently knowledgeable about and something that would have added six months to production.

In the wake of Spider-Man 4 falling apart, Sony has since decided to focus on a reboot of the Spider-Man franchise without star Tobey Maguire. The reboot was apparently planned for when Spider-Man 4 was finished and is believed to be a "gritty, contemporary" take on the Spider-Man story for release in 2012. (Gritty Spider-Man?)

What does this all mean for Raimi's other project, Warcraft? It means that Raimi's schedule has freed up considerably. The original plan was to begin work on the Warcraft film, which is based on Blizzard's popular online gaming franchise, as soon as Spider-Man 4 wrapped.

Raimi has two projects lined up: historical novel The Given Day, from Mystic River author Dennis Lehane, and the film adaptation of Blizzard's Warcraft. Which one he moves forward on first is up to Raimi, but, like Spider-Man, Warcraft is a huge property with a massive following. If the filmmaker is feeling like he is itching to tackle a big project, then he'll most likely move forward on the Warcraft film. But if he is feeling stymied by the prospect of doing a huge effect-heavy film, then he'll probably do The Given Day.

Last fall, the director said this about World of Warcraft: "You could make a brilliant World of Warcraft movie - as fine as any of the best superhero movies - if you had the right writers and directors."

Saving Private Ryan and The Patroit screenwriter Robert Rodat has signed on to scribe the Warcraft film.

taken from kotaku

Alex

live!

Ok so we in the past have done a live broadcast... Well its back join us this week for anime week with alex... trust me its fun

Alex

ALPHA!!! wOOt!

We have a few World of Warcraft fans in the office, and to say that we're excited about the game's upcoming third expansion, Cataclysm, is kind of an understatement. Thus our frothing jealousy at the news this weekend that Cataclysm will be entering a "Friends and Family" alpha beginning this week.

WOW.com reports from a number of insider tips that beginning Tuesday, those close enough to Blizzard to receive an invite to the alpha will be able to check out the new content. Of course, alpha means that the expansion is still in an early, unfinalized form, but this does suggest that Blizzard is well on track for releasing the expansion this year.

So, uh...any Blizzard employees in the audience? We're friends, right? Right?

Taken from game informer

Alex

Mana Bar

Going Down Under anytime soon? If you find yourself in Australia with a parched tongue this February, keep your eyes open for the country’s first dedicated video game bar, Mana Bar.

At Mana Bar you can put your feet up, grab a controller with one hand, and a martini with the other. Save your arcade quarter stash for more cocktails, because the joint offers all the gaming you can handle free of charge. Trivia, tournaments, launch events, and other gaming-related things will keep gaming lushes occupied while ordering another round.

Up to 50 patrons can occupy the establishment before the Mana Bar is maxed out. No word has been released regarding whether Mana Bar’s maximum capacity will increase when it levels up.

You can thank Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of Zero Punctuation and three other Aussies for the bar’s creation. Any Australian gamers out there excited at the prospect of tap beer and video games?

Taken from Gameinformer

OK so the country that bans so many games and has such a problem with the video game industry has this? wtf? how does that make sense that needs to be in the good ole
US of A

Alex

let it snow

Well seeing that its been snowing alot i found this on the playstation blog. thought i'd share. Anyone else see any snow? send us pics of it!

Alex

copys?

D3 Publisher’s hostess dating sim Dream C Club is without a doubt inspired by the success of The Idolm@ster, but the link between the two titles may be even deeper. Let’s take a look at character art from both games.



Hachimaki points out idols Makoto, Ami, and Chihaya appear remarkably similar to Nao, Setsu, and Reika from Dream C Club. The Dream C Club staff vehemently deny the speculation in an interview with Gamespot Japan.



What do you think? Did D3 Publisher borrow Namco Bandai’s idol archetypes or is this a coincidence? Either way, Namco Bandai wins since they own D3 Publishe

Alex

Darksiders in Hollywood

Joe Madureira, creative director on Vigil's freshly-released Darksiders, has revealed that already talks are underway to shift the franchise into things like movies and comic books.

"We've gotten some interest from Hollywood, we've talked about doing a comic series," Madureira told VG247. "We" being publishers THQ, of course, not Vigil. "At least a couple of those things have to happen, I'm sure". Seeing as he only listed a couple of things, maybe they're both a go!

For those who haven't played the game, Darksiders is the story of one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, War, who has to clear his name by finding, then killing, everyone and everything responsible for triggering the end of the world.

Seeing as Madureira made his name in the business, you'd expect to at least see a comic series starring the bulky horseman and his fire-breathing horse.

Hollywood interested in Darksiders, confirms Madureira [VG247]

Taken from kotaku

Alex

Cant wait

Ok so when i get off work im gonna go pick up my Bayonetta. Who else has it? Someone give me a early impression of the game.

Alex

one more day

One more day folks who pre-ordered it? I DID!

Alex

Proof of my hate

Ok now on one of our recent podcasts We talked about my hate for twilight... Well i believe this explains it perfectly Happy weekend everyone.

Alex

Episode 9 "Riddle Me This"

Well its recorded and up go check it out we talk about what we liked in the gaming world in 2009 and what we look forward to in 2010! we read e-mails and edsel riddles us with brain teasers. JOIN US!

Alex