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Little wonder then, with the official PR process so rigidly micromanaged, that gamers pounce on the smallest iota of information that emerges outside of the publicity food chain. Lately, many tidbits have prematurely bubbled up via Twitter, the suddenly omnipresent microblogging service that has been seized upon by the mainstream media and midlevel celebs. Besides your actual friends, you can now follow CNN, the BBC, and the New York Times, in addition to Levar Burton, rapper Q-Tip, and Firefly alum Summer Glau, and the artist formerly known as MC Hammer (among many others).

However, gamers have known about Twitter for a while now, and tech-savvy developers and journalists have used it to communicate since 2006. Indeed, the past several months have seen several stories break on Twitter. Last December, Newsweek‘s game correspondent used it to report from an Activision meeting where Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was first revealed. Earlier this month, the game’s existence was further confirmed by a tweet from Infinity Ward director of communications and community manager Robert Bowling before it was officially announced during a February 11 Activision Blizzard earnings conference call.

This week, it was Sony’s turn to be twisted in twain twixt Twitter tweets. In the post in question, Perry declared, “I hear Sony FINALLY has the PSP 2. And thank goodness, they’ve removed the stupid battery-sucking UMD disc drive. I’m excited!”

The official story: “We don’t comment on rumor or speculation. Equally, we have no relation with David or his company, so [we're] not sure why there’d be any weight put to his comments to the press,” said a Sony rep, before adding, “Did you see our PSP announcements [on Tuesday]? UMD isn’t going away…”

Bogus or not bogus?:

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On one hand, Sony has a point that–with Rock Band, Assassin’s Creed, MotorStorm, and Little Big Planet all just announced for the handheld–UMD isn’t on the precipice of abandonment. On the other, Perry is an old hand with numerous contacts in the industry. Why would he spread speculation that he suspected of being false?

One possiblity: They could both

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be telling the truth, and Sony is planning a UMD-less PSP model to market alongside the UMD-drive-packing PSP. And keep in mind, the company already releases games as UMDs and digital downloads simuntaneously. So having the two hardware models overlap might be a way of segueing between game formats. Nintendo is doing something similar later this year, when it will sell the DS Lite, which has a Game Boy Advance slot, and the DSi, which loses the GBA slot in favor of DSiWare digital distribution capabilities, at the same time.

Source [GameSpot]

Chocolat dvd No one could have suspected that the sequel to 2004′s Killzone would be this good. Killzone 2 is a tremendous package, offering an exciting campaign and terrific competitive online play, neither of which create new paradigms for first-person shooters, but rather set new standards in subtle but significant ways. From groundbreaking visuals to well-crafted multiplayer maps, most of Killzone 2′s individual elements stand out in a crowded genre, making its meager attempts at storytelling easy to ignore. PlayStation 3 owners looking for a shooter to keep them busy for the rest of 2009 and beyond need look no further: The fierce action will keep you glued to your television screen for some time to come.

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The M82: Is there nothing it can’t do?

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What makes Killzone 2′s single-player campaign so much fun? First and foremost, the weapons are a lot of fun to shoot, even the standard assault rifles that form the core of your loadout. The M82′s effective scope makes zooming in on your target a breeze, yet this rifle is effective at close range as well, establishing itself from the beginning as a formidable firearm. The LS13 shotgun is also powerful and rewarding to fire; though you may only shoot off a foe’s helmet with other weapons, you’ll watch entire heads explode with a single blast from this close-range powerhouse. The bolt gun is another favorite, skewering enemy soldiers onto surfaces and exploding a short moment later. Though you’re traversing a sci-fi setting, your weapons are decidedly modern-day, from the sniper rifle to the vicious flamethrower, with one exception: the lightning gun. This mighty instrument showers enemies with overpowering jolts of electricity, and though it’s not available for long, it makes short work of robotic and humanoid foes. Each of these weapons feels just right; fantastic spurts of blood, outstanding animations, exquisitely detailed weapon models, and explosive sound effects fuse seamlessly and give a satisfying sense of impact every time you land a shot.

Although there’s a great variety of weaponry, you won’t encounter that many different kinds of enemies as you fight your way across the war-torn landscapes of the planet Helghan. As in the original Killzone, your enemies consist largely of Helghast soldiers, yet though this limited selection led to monotony in the past, an assortment of factors in the sequel hold tedium at bay. The action is constantly pushing forward, leading you from one quality scripted event to the next and pitting you against bright AI opponents that have a remarkable grasp of battlefield tactics. These soldiers put up a fight and exhibit authentic behavior as you rain bullets on them. If you set your sights on a soldier peeking from behind cover and fire off a few rounds in that direction, he’ll patiently wait until all signs of fire have vanished. Helghast will flank you and shoot blindly from behind cover, and should you toss a grenade in their direction, they’ll quickly scatter. You’ll normally be fighting alongside a computer-controlled teammate or even entire squads of fellow infantry. Enemy AI is just as concerned with your comrades as it is with you, so you’ll never feel as if you have a bull’s-eye plastered on your forehead, as is common with many other team-based shooters. As a result, Killzone 2′s thrilling large-scale battles unfold dynamically and offer a legitimate challenge while rarely feeling unfair–a frustrating rocket-heavy final battle serving as the only exception.

Some excellent turret sequences and other segments also provide welcome variations on the shooting theme. At one point, you’ll climb into a robotic shell and mow down infantry and tanks with machine gun fire and rockets. The way your transparent protective shield exhibits cracks as you take damage and the remarkable fire and smoke effects that light up the screen add to the excitement of the level. In another fun and visually stunning sequence, you’ll use an antiaircraft turret to take down squadrons of enemy fighters. Even operating a standard turret is more appealing than you would expect, which is a result of great map design and well-scripted enemy entrances. If you’re just using your standard arsenal, missions are diverse and engaging. You’ll take aim at tanks (and in one boss fight, a hovering aircraft) using Killzone 2′s potent rocket launcher, and you’ll fight your way through a besieged air base in which winding corridors and intersecting passages have you battling multiple enemies on multiple levels.

Most levels take their cue from the usual first-person shooter formulas, and though it takes place in the spacefaring future, Killzone 2 feels more akin to a modern-day day FPS by way of its standard weapons and mostly humanoid enemies. It’s an interesting blend of two disparate sensibilities that works far better than in the original, and it’s further ripened by gameplay touches that feel authentic within that framework. Movement and turning speeds have a real feeling of weight, which is appropriate considering the heavy armor burdening you. This can make the controls feel somewhat sluggish at first, given that you take a moment to gather momentum. It doesn’t take long to get accustomed to this sense of overall bulkiness, though, and it’s consistently delivered across multiple mechanics. For example, when you jump, the way that you bend into the leap and cushion the landing with another slight crouch feels surprisingly realistic. That weight also informs movement in and out of cover. Killzone 2′s cover system is solid, and it never removes you from a first-person viewpoint. Though some objects can obscure your view if you try to take potshots from behind them, sticking to cover and leaning out from behind walls is generally effective and intuitive.

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Whether you go for a pop-and-shoot approach or just gun your way through, the mission design keeps you constantly moving from one objective to the next. The quick pace is one of Killzone 2′s finest facets; battles don’t wear on too long, and they aren’t so brief as to be anticlimactic. Like many other shooters, mission objectives often involve turning a crank or pushing a button. In Killzone 2, this may mean rotating the controller to simulate the onscreen activity. These moments feel unnecessary and ironically disrupt the sense of immersion, but as tacked-on as they are, the actions are too brief to be especially annoying. You’ll also use your gamepad’s motion sensitivity to stabilize the sniper rifle, though the implementation here is subtle and therefore relatively harmless.

It’s a real pity that there is so little context for the exceptional action. If you’re familiar with the original Killzone, you’ll at least have an idea why the ISA (International Strategic Alliance) is attacking the Helghast homeworld; if not, it’s clear that as Thomas Sevchenko, you are on the side of the good guys–just not clear why they are the good guys. The dialogue is rudimentary (a discussion regarding sandwiches jumps immediately to mind), the characters forgettable, and the plot serves purely as a thin framework to move you from one environment to the next. Yet the cutscenes are top-notch, and unlike their counterparts in fellow PS3 shooter Haze, there’s nothing intrinsically offensive or wearisome about the fist-pumping grunts at the core of the story. The story isn’t deep or involving–it’s just there, neither enhancing nor diminishing Killzone 2′s action.

That action is enhanced by groundbreaking visuals that elevate Killzone 2 to the head of its class. Both technically and artistically, this is a real stunner. You’ll first notice the obvious expressions of its technical prowess: environments jam-packed with objects and textured architectural details, pipes and crumbling rebar jutting from dilapidated buildings, and gorgeous lighting that drenches market squares and sandy battlefields with an incandescent glow. As you peel away the visual layers, your appreciation will only grow. Soldier animations are the best in the genre: Enemies move so fluidly during battle, and shift from cover to firing stance so smoothly, it’s clear that meticulous attention was given to making each limb move authentically. Even the smallest details are striking. Raging fires react to the wind as it blows through the level, lightning flashes across the gloomy skies, and billows of smoke so thick you could choke on them cloud your view–but never so much as to be a gameplay annoyance.

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The environments are dripping with grim ambience.

These visuals coalesce beautifully to give Killzone 2 a cohesive look that relies as much on its art design as it does on its technology. A subtle grain filter, a good amount of motion blur, and deep color saturation give most levels a dank, overcast ambience, and asymmetrical architecture and other small stylistic touches make Helghan feel more like a grim alternate-universe Earth than a completely foreign world. The sound design offers an equally intense palette. Explosions are obnoxiously loud, and the din of gunfire spreads across the map. The largest battles, such as one that rages across a decrepit bridge, sound intensely chaotic, and the crack of lightning bolts on Blood Gracht may cause you to jump out of your seat. The stormy soundtrack rages at all the right moments but gets a bit overwrought, which befits the hammy voice acting more than it does the layered sound effects.

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Although the campaign is over in eight or nine hours, many levels are eminently replayable thanks to tough enemy AI and multiple difficulty levels, and the game makes it easy to revisit specific sequences within its mission menu. But what gives this shooter legs is its fantastic online play, a fun and competitive extravaganza that issues a constant stream of benefits. Like the most recent Call of Duty games, Killzone 2 rewards you with bonuses as you play, which in this case can mean new weapons, extra grenades awarded upon respawning, and most intriguingly, entire classes. This is done not only via a leveling system that pushes you ever closer to the next reward, but also with ribbons earned by completing specific tasks, such as getting a certain percentage of your team’s kills. These bonuses are earned separately from leveling, which makes for two layers of online play enhancements to keep you ever addicted.

These dividends flow in a seemingly endless current, though they aren’t the only facet of online play that will keep you gripping your controller; the team-based gameplay itself is outstanding, which serves as reason enough to stick with Killzone 2. The modes themselves offer few surprises, what with variants on Team Deathmatch (Bodycount), Conquest (Capture and Hold), and Capture the Flag (Search and Retrieve), among others. Rather, matches are unique because these modes are strung seamlessly together, forcing teams to move from one objective to the next with barely a breather in-between. Up to five modes mesh into a single game, which keeps teams on their toes and spreads hotbeds of action about the maps. In a single match, you’re likely to band with teammates in an exposed courtyard, navigate tight walkways as battles rage in the artificial gulley just beyond, and defend an objective in a claustrophobic alcove. It’s unlikely that you’ll have trouble finding players online to join you in one of Killzone 2′s 32-player engagements, but should you be so inclined, you can fill out the games that you host with up to 15 AI-controlled bots. You can even practice offline in one-off matches with those same bots if you prefer.

The eight maps included are exceptional, largely because they are flexible enough to make every mode feel like a natural fit for the precise layouts. Aspects such as the varying spawn points of the propaganda speaker in Search and Retrieve, and the vulnerable locations of capture points in Capture and Hold, provide focused hot spots and send you to every nook and cranny of the maps. Be prepared to think vertically because the pathways wind up stairwells, through hidden tunnels, and across balconied walkways. The addition of techniques available to each of Killzone 2′s seven classes makes the ensuing action even more dynamic. An engineer’s turrets can make Pyrrhus Rise’s natural chokepoints even more treacherous, whereas a cloaked enemy may pounce on you as you navigate Tharsis Depot’s constricted walkways. All the while, visual flourishes such as floating embers on Visari Hammer and distant artillery fire on Salamun Market keep the mood oppressive.

Online play offers an embarrassment of rewards.

Additional features flesh out the robust online play. You can join other teammates in a squad, a la Battlefield 2 and Enemy Territory, a feature that lets you coordinate attacks with ease. Full support for clans and clan challenges should make Killzone 2 a natural destination for competitive teams, and you can use killzone.com to schedule clan matches and tournaments. But whether you’re a lone wolf or a clan enthusiast, you’ll be happy to find a mostly smooth online experience, with only rare and short bouts of visual slowdown and online lag. In light of this extraordinary suite of online options, it’s a pity that there is no cooperative play, and the single-player campaign seems ripe for such an addition, given that you’re usually accompanied by an AI teammate.

You’ll have to look to the inevitable Killzone 3 to find out if developer Guerilla can dig any diamonds out of this series’ rough narrative. Otherwise, Killzone 2 is an exceptional first-person shooter, not because it does anything particularly new, but because it does everything extraordinarily well. There’s certainly no doubting its graphical superiority, but though its moody visuals invite incessant superlatives, it’s the tight, electric action that will make this an off- and online haven.

Source [GameSpot]

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Universal Soldier: The Return rip The image of a pasty-skinned, greasy-haired young girl has become an iconic one in horror films like The Ring, and the original F.E.A.R. introduced a similar figure with great success. Of course, that game gave its ghostly visions a chilling context, drawing you into the unnerving story of a paranormal prodigy named Alma and the horrific suffering to which she was subjected. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin returns to this fertile universe, but rather than scrutinize even darker reaches of the soul, it merely skims the surface, offering up a series of eerie visions without delivering a good mystery to bind them together. The good news for shooter fans is that the bullet-blasting core of the experience is sound, propelling you forward with enough intensity to keep the single-player campaign engaging. Most of what’s here has been done better before, but the unspectacular elements have been stitched into an enjoyably moody first-person shooter that relies on rock-solid mechanics rather than true inspiration.

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After a short exposition, F.E.A.R. 2 picks up where the original left off–with a bang. The city is in tatters, and as Michael Becket of Delta Force, it is up to you and your squadmates to capture the elusive Genevieve Aristide, president of the nefarious Armacham Technology Corporation. Too much description would risk spoiling the game’s few surprises, which are better experienced than narrated, though as it happens, there are few enigmas to unravel. F.E.A.R. 2′s story paints itself into a corner, offering very little new to players already familiar with the Project Origin referred to in the title, and nothing compelling enough to wrap newcomers into its fold. With Alma now a known quantity, paranormal secrecy has been replaced by a series of near-cliche bump-in-the-night scares and murky visions that do the unthinkable where a horror-themed game is concerned: They become predictable.

Because the pacing and story layout of the game can be a bit predictable at times, F.E.A.R. 2’s real scares come from its atmosphere–and this actually works, sometimes. Expect to jump out of your seat on occasion, when your flashlight flickers and ghostly visages surround you, or when staccato orchestral chords signal the emergence of abominations as they break free from their confining cells. Other attempts at scares just seem stale, given that the game’s pacing and level design foreshadow these encounters, therefore emasculating the necessary sense of surprise. However, the excellent sound design is never to blame. A variety of creaks and groans gives ebb and flow to the sense of tension, and musical swells and increasingly hectic clatters and clangs will get your pulse pounding when needed. Unfortunately, the visuals don’t paint a picture dour enough to match. Some areas are shrouded with moody environmental shadows, in which light and dark contrast to excellent effect. In other levels, the lack of ambient lighting and accompanying silhouettes are noticeable, and the surrounding frights just feel flaccid. The PS3 version in particular suffers from some rather unfortunate aliasing and occasional dips in frame rate, which further detracts from the atmosphere.

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The level design also falls victim to a fair bit of predictability, though to F.E.A.R. 2′s credit, you’ll break away from the endless office corridors of the original and journey through a greater variety of environments. These areas are usually just as claustrophobic, but they won’t often deliver that spine-tingling fear of the specters lurking beyond the reach of your flashlight. Trekking through the rubble of decaying city streets is a good change of pace, but the ultraconvenient manner in which the debris holds you to your narrow path is a familiar design ploy. Similarly, there’s no more excitement to be found in F.E.A.R. 2′s same-old subway than that of any other game. It’s at its best when it leaves these stale tropes behind and builds on its roots as a corridor shooter, such as in a nail-biting sojourn through the halls of an elementary school that hides unspeakable horrors. Entering a dusky music classroom to find a hideous mutant pounding on the keys of a piano with abandon is a singular moment, and the ensuing battles are ripe and exhilarating reminders of the series’ explosive origins.

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Those same inhuman atrocities will spawn clones while emitting ear-splitting, disorienting roars, and others scurry about at super speeds–though as it happens, you’ve got a helpful skill at your disposal that helps manage nimble and sluggish foes alike. Like the protagonist of F.E.A.R., you can activate reflex time, which slows the action to a crawl and lets you battle your enemies in a bullet-time ballet. You’ve seen a similar mechanic a lot by now, but it’s skillfully done here. Grenade explosions create impressive visual distortions, bullets leave an airstream in their wake, and spoken dialogue and sound effects grind to a muffled crawl. Landing headshots in reflex time is particularly enjoyable and gives F.E.A.R. 2′s gruesome levels of violence a temporary starring role. Foes erupt in red gushers, staining the walls with blood and flailing around in their final moments, an effect made even more effective by robust (and occasionally oversensitive) rag-doll animations.

Your instruments of destruction aren’t spectacular, but they’re varied enough to make shooting a pleasure, even when the flow of time takes its normal path. The two shotguns are particular delights; they feel weighty and dispatch most enemies with a single bloody blast to the noggin. The hammerhead is another delight, filling your foes with neon barbs and potentially affixing them to the wall behind. However, shooter fans should consider playing at higher difficulty levels, given that F.E.A.R. 2 feels noticeably easier than its predecessor.

The AI can offer occasional challenges, particularly in levels featuring intersecting corridors in which human enemies will flank you, use cover effectively, and tumble to the side should they find themselves gazing down the barrel of your automatic shotgun. They will also tip over furniture or other objects and use them as cover (a trick you can use, though will likely never need). However, enemy behavior is inconsistent; a table-tipping guard may not follow through, running away from his improvised cover rather than ducking behind it. Some enemies will blindly fire from behind low obstacles but may also do so when in plain view. The best adversaries are those not governed by rules of human behavior, such as ethereal foes that take shape as you enter reflex time. And in some cases, your enemies are so visually elusive that you’re better off finding a way out of the dark environs that spawn them.

The most notable additions to the formula are a couple of armored-suit sequences in which you climb into a giant metal mech and riddle your attackers with machine-gun spray and rockets. These sequences aren’t tough–you’re a powerful death machine plowing down your weakling foes–but the mech controls nicely and you’ll be treated to some impressive displays of environmental destruction and general chaos. You can move through these areas on foot if you like, so these levels do offer a bit of replay value, though you should take great pains to wreak fun robotic havoc when given the possibility. You’ll also take control of the turret atop the squad’s armored vehicle, but this weapon isn’t all that enjoyable to use, and these bits feel like filler.

The shooting is solid–it’s just not special.

F.E.A.R. 2′s multiplayer component also feels like filler, and though we’ve come to expect online play from most of our shooters, there’s nothing special about this suite of lackluster options. For fans of the original, the most notable omission is that of the slow-motion modes, which brought reflex time into an online arena and made for some clever and enjoyable showdowns. Without these modes, F.E.A.R. 2 feels a bit hollow online, serving up helpings of Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, a couple of Conquest variants, Capture the Flag, and a mode called Failsafe that owes a large debt to Counter-Strike. The best of these is Armored Front, in which a player on each team can hop into one of those robotic exoskeletons while his or her teammates capture control points. Otherwise, the shooting mechanics don’t translate as well to a multiplayer environment, and the by-the-numbers levels are unimpressive. You have the ability to customize your loadout and level up in ranked matches, but this just isn’t enough to breathe life into the musty online play.

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls movie download You’ll get the occasional heebie-jeebies from F.E.A.R. 2, but the magic of the first game hasn’t been re-created here. It’s true that some of the changes in the new game seem like they were intended to address criticism of the first F.E.A.R.: tedious and claustrophobic environments, lack of enemy variety, and so on. Sadly, though these changes were made, the resulting sequel, while fun and well-crafted, seems to have lost sight of the strengths that made its predecessor so unique. Nevertheless, playing F.E.A.R. 2 is a worthwhile way to pass the time while we wait for the inevitable next installment.

Source [GameSpot]

Today, Capcom announced that it has shipped 2 million copies of Street Fighter IV to retailers across the globe. While the figure signifies strong demand for the title, Capcom did not reveal how many of those units had actually been sold. Since the original Street Fighter launched in 1987, the franchise has sold more than 500,000 arcade cabinets and 27 million console games, according to Capcom.

Street Fighter IV marks the first all-new installment in the series since 1998′s Street Fighter III. (Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix was released as a downloadable game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 last November.) The 2D fighter features all 12 of the classic World Warriors that fronted the heralded Street Fighter II series. Also entering the ring are seven fighters that have appeared in other Street Fighter games, such as Fei Long and Akuma, as well as six all-new characters.

A PC edition of the game is expected to launch later this year.

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Source [GameSpot]

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Vietnam shooters apparently need more than just Charlie creeping through the jungle these days. ShellShock 2: Blood Trails takes a sharp left turn away from its gritty, realistic 2004 predecessor, ShellShock: Nam ’67, and throws zombie hordes into the expected mix of AK-47s and rice paddies. Combining horror with stereotypical first-person shooter combat does little to make the game stand apart from the crowd, however. While there are a few thrills and chills here, this is too much of a shooter-by-numbers to be engaging to anyone but the least discriminating twitch gamer.

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Taking down another refugee from 28 Days Later.

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into a blender, this is pretty much what you would get. You play as Nate Walker, a raw recruit who touches down in country and is immediately shipped off to a border base under siege by the Vietcong (cue the usual angst about war being hell). But then the game shifts