Couple Gaming

I consider this more of a teaser than a trailer.. no actual gameplay.. But it’s from E3 & us GoW fanatics love it.

E3 is upon us and I am going to recap some of the best things I think are coming out. I will edit this post as necessary to include more things.

MICROSOFT

8 party chat for Xbox Live: Seriously this is one of the things we have wanted for a long time!

Netflix Intergration into Live Market: WOW! I know a lot of people using vncnetflix on their vista boxes and now we don’t need too!

Fable 2: coming out this fall with the ability to have your friends join you.

Gears of War 2: We all know this is coming, but its still always worth mentioning

New Xbox Live look and feel: Avatars, new design, lots of changes with more content

Portal: Still alive: YES a new portal game!!!

Fallout 3: Co-op for this game as well! WOoot!

1 vs. 100: A massively multiplayer game show coming to Xbox Live this Fall. You’ll be able to win real prizes

Music Games Continue with Lips, a game to sing along to your own music, Guitar Hero: World Tour, which is offering music in-game simultaneously or even prior to it’s world release, and Rock Band 2, again reiterating that past DLC will work with new stuff.

Movies(?): This is a little unclear, but there is a game coming that will let you use the live camera (it ships with one) to make your own movies…..I dont know how to feel about that.

Final fantasy to come to the 360: Final Fantasy XIII is being released on the 360 the same time as the PS3, people said that would never happen. Ever since Penny Arcades RPG, we’ve been dying to try out another RPG, to see if we get the same level of enjoyment out of it. The preview is so beautiful, it looks less like a game, and more like a Summer Blockbuster Movie. It’s breathtaking…

Rock Band 2 song list: This can be found in our forums! HERE

NINTENDO

Nintendos conference came across more as a board meeting than a true E3 exciting preview. A few neat things came out of it..

Cooking Navi - this has been in Europe & Asia for a while.. but it’s finally coming stateside. Evidently, this is a game that walks you through recipes by talking to you. Yeah, I’m a little intrigued too

Wii Sports: Resort - Water skiing, fencing of some sort, Frisbee, etc.

Wii Music - No notes, lots of instruments… interesting.

More of the same, only different - Grant Theft Auto for the DS: GTA : China Town Wars, Call of Duty on the Wii, Spore Creatures on the DS, more Pokemon, a new Animal Crossing: City Folk

Sony

Sony brought a bunch of numbers to talk about the PS3 and then moved on to the PS2….yes they did, I don’t lie very often.

Resistance 2: 8 Player co-op Not sure this is all that special, we all knew about this.

Little Big Planet: Also something we knew about.

PSN games: R&C: QFB, Crash Commando, Fat PRincess, PIxelJunk Eden , Pain: Amusement Park, Flower, Siren: Blood Curse , RagDoll KungFu: Fists of Plastic

GTTV: Streaming racing from around the world.

Funanimation: Movies for the PSN network, rental and downloads, can be put on the PSP as well.

“Standard and High-def rental and sell-through TV starts at $1.99. offering both rental and sales. 9.99-14.99 for purchases, 2.99 to 3.99 for rentals, “this content is portable” download on PS3, bring on PSP “put on multiple devices at the same time”

This service is avialable tonight.

PSP games coming: Resistance Retribution, Patapon 2, LocoRoco 2 and Midnight Club Los Angeles Remix, Star wars Force unleashed, Super Stardust Portable, LEGO Batman, Buzz Master Quiz, Valkyria Chronicles

More PS3 news…

DC Universe Online: Tons of DC Heros and Villans in the game, dare I say all?

God of War 3: We all knew this was coming, one of my favorite titles!

inFamous: MAG = Massive Action Game, massive online battles up to 256 players broken into teams of 8, RPG like charectar development

Update:  the “Bungie.net news / taken over website / reveal of new game” has been cancelled due to Microsofts publishing right ….   Latest gossip is that MS didn’t want to reveal the new Halo “Blue”, as it won’t be out this year.  Boo to that… what is E3 without yet another Halo game?

Ok, so I LOVE playing the drums in Rock Band, and I was a little disappointed that Guitar Hero: World Tour had better looking drums, but I did find a nice surprise today, you can actually order some Premium drums for Rock Band 1 and 2 from https://www.drumrocker.com , granted it’s $299 US but still just look at them!

But be aware currently you can only get these for the 360, with other consoles to follow later.

Now the big question is, will the GH:World Tour drums work with Rock Band?

Anyone that has been on this site long enough to hear a podcast knows that I am a fan of the DS, particularly the types of games where there is a mystery to be solved.  I’d say my favorite games for the DS are Ace Attorney and Room 214.

With that kind of a background, know that I went in to this game CRAVING it.  I needed it more than an American Idol addict.  Phoenix, Maya, Mia, Pearly, and the other characters broke my hearts more times than the Whedoniverse cancellations.

So first, I need to warn everyone that has been an addict of this series:  The creators are re-doing it.

Now don’t be scared.  They had to redo it - Phoenix Wright was made more for the Gameboy than to really take advantage of the Touch Screen.   Take a deep breath, and make it through all the way to the end.  I promise you will not regret it.

It has been over 7 years since the last game “Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations”.  The premise of the game is that you are Apollo Justice, a brand-spanking-new defense attorney.   Your first case?  You have been asked for specifically by Phoenix Wright to defend him (yet again) for a murder case.  As Apollo Justice, you are going to gather evidence, question witnesses, present said evidence, and make your case before the judge.  Same as before… with a few new twists.

Like I said, the game has been revamped a little for the DS. We can now examine the evidence, turn it over different ways, and if there is something quirky about it, we can zoom in and discuss it.  We can also, when prompted, dust for prints, look for chemicals, and even get plasters of shoe prints.  This actually adds a much-needed element to the game that the DS seems perfect for.   Of course, the “being prompted” does decrease the difficulty of the game, and disappoints some of us.

A new aspect of the game, for those of us familiar with Maya/Phoenix’s “Psyche-Lock” game, is to “Perceive” when a suspect is lying.  To “Perceive” something, a bracelet will become useable on the screen during a specific witness statement.  We then must know about which segment they are lying about, and then “Perceive” their nervous twitch.  This aspect is explained FAR more thoroughly than the magic Magatama, and I am incredibly impressed by how much thought was put into the explanation.  Now, if only they could incorporate this “usable during a specific span” idea for the fingerprinting and other Touch-related aspects.

The character list is terrifying at first to anyone that has played the previous — No Mia, no Maya, no Pearly, no Edgeworth, none of the prosecutors we’ve seen so far, and Detective Gumshoe only makes a small cameo.  Apollo does a pretty good job of filling in for the Phoenix we know and love, and Trucy Wright, Phonix’s 15 yo daughter (?? I know … and yes, it explains it by the end)  does a fairly good job of filling in for Maya.  The prosecutor is much more fun than Edgeworth was by the end, and everyone is very well fleshed out, just like in the past Ace Attorneys.  They become people you know and adore, even if you didn’t know them the previous week.

The end is something any Phoenix Wright fan will love.  You feel like you have been pulled through the 7 years and plopped into a reality you couldn’t entirely control, but have made the best with what you could.  Every loose end is suddenly tied up so tight, you can’t help but be completely gratified.  I squealed or yelled or moaned or pouted numerous times through out that ending.. I’m not sure I’ve ever been so emotionally pulled so many different ways by a game in my life.

So.. final review?  As a personal game, it’s 5 stars, 2 thumbs up, please sir may I have another.  As a Couple Game, it is not nearly as co-operative as many others, with only 1 save spot and no interactive play.

In the future, I hope to see closure to some of our other beloved characters, Phoenix being a more central character, and some more freedom in presenting things to sway how the game goes.

Of course, I have heard that this is not at all the way things are going to go.. I hear the next game, we’re the Prosecutor!  NOo0ooooooOOooooo!!!!!!

For us Music loving gamers there has been no shortage in good news these past couple months, from the annoucement of Guitar Hero: World tour, to GH on the DS we now get confirmation that Rock Band 2 will be coming out in Sept, and what’s even better is all the songs you downloaded for Rock Band will now be automaticaly moved into Rock Band 2.

From RockBand.com

Backwards compatibility with Rock Band downloadable music content. All previously purchased tracks will immediately load into your Rock Band 2 song list. No need to re-purchase or re-download.

- The biggest and most diverse soundtrack ever featuring some of rock’s most prolific acts, comprised entirely of master recordings.

- Major new and dynamic online modes that will connect the entire Rock Band community in more ways than ever before both locally and globally.

- More variety of instrument choices than ever before with new and improved drum and guitar peripherals, enhanced functionality and innovative new designs - all fully compatible with the original Rock Band instruments

I don’t know about you all, but as long as the instruments are better, this information makes me think there is no need to go to Guitar Hero: World Tour.  But only time will tell.

After many days of secret clues we now all know what is coming out next, Diablo 3!!  Blizzard has game play footage, classes, screenshots and the works over on their site http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/

So everyone is wondering if Guitar Hero: World Tour is just a Rock Band rip off, and to be honest I can’t answer that fully, however it does appear that if it is a copy of Rock Band, they obviously did some good improvments to it.

The most obvious improvement is in the drums, not only did they add two elevated wedges that serve as a high-hat and a cymbal but it is also wireless! That’s right now the only thing wired in the whole set is the mic, which if you have seen pictures of my setup is a welcome change, as I hate having all those wires strung across the room,  hopefully someone will make a wireless mic soon.

Besides that there is also some good game play additions, like the ability to make your own songs in the Music Studio, which allows you to record four tracks: Lead, Rhythm, Bass, and Drums, and I hear this goes in much further than most of us will use, but people like Lunchb0x will love.  Also the customization is said to be very in depth, so much so that you can create your own tattoo and design your own band logos, etc.  Unlike Rock Band where you can only select from pre-created ones, granted they did offer a lot.  And there is one other addition that I think was a good thing to do, and that is the beginner mode, which is just strumming, which will let your younger kids enjoy the game a lot more.

So even though at first I had written off Guitar Hero: World Tour as just a wanna be Rock Band, and I still believe they are stealing the idea, it does look like they are bringing some good things to the table.  I guess the only left is to see what Rock Band 2 brings when it gets close to release and decide from there, either way it looks like we all win in this competition, just pick the one that best suits what you are looking for, that or buy a bigger garage to rock out with all of them!

For those of you like me who think Spore just can’t get here soon enough, I have good news! The Spore Creator Creator Demo is out NOW and the full version is released tomorrow June 18th. You can download the demo on many sites, but we also will provide it for you, feel free to download it from us HERE.

Now if you don’t know what Spore is, or for that matter Spore: Creator Creator let me briefly enlighten you. Spore is a SIM game designed to start you out as a single cell organism and let you evolve all the way to exploring different solar systems, not only that, but YOU get to create you’re organism and watch it evolve, control how it evolves and so on. I am literally just skimming over the details, if you want all the good info I would suggest getting it directly from the source.

If you had any doubts if Spore: Creature Creator is worth the current $9.99 digital download price, let me say in my opinion it is well worth it, today alone both Ophilye and I have wasted 3 hours and had to give up due to time constraints and wanting to get this posted, you can be sure we will be back at it tomorrow. What’s the point of this if Spore includes it at release? Simple, it’s a jump start at the game, anything you create can be imported into the full version of Spore. Not only that, but this is the best way to see the basics of Spore and if it would be worth your money, and from what I have seen it is and then some.

You can buy Spore: Creature Creator directly from EA HERE

Want to see what we created? Feel free to visit my youtube page for all of our creations, and I have included both Ophilyes and my first creatures below for you amusement.

Want to share you creature with us? Post it on our forums or link it in a comment! We would LOVE to see them!

The God of War series is one of my all times favorites, and that isn’t much of a surprise considering how much I love all types of Mythology.  So when I heard the newest edition of the series was going to be released ONLY on the PSP I was really disappointed, I mean how can you take such an epic, bigger then life game and shrink it down to a small hand held and still make it as good as the two previous games?  I also knew at that point I would finally give in and get a PSP, not only for God of War, but also for the Aliens vs Predator game (which I have yet to find!)

Let me say, I am not disappointed, God of War: Chains of Olympus brings more of the same that I have come to love from the series, and even though it is on a hand held console, the controls are almost, if not identical, to the PS2 versions of the series, and the game play still makes you feel like you’re in a very large world, with magical elements all around.  I don’t want to go into the story line, because that really makes the game, but lets say they just made a new one over all for this title rather then continuing the story from the other two games.

If you have been debating picking up the PSP now is the time in my opinion, for this game is one of many great titles out for it the hand held and if you’re of God of War fan is a must in my book.

First of all.. isn’t that the best title ever? I mean, if you’re going to take a web cartoon with the dark humor that we have all come to know and love and turn it into an episodic game, one that is likely going to be torn apart by every review site and game company PA has ripped apart, it really requires that kind of a title.

If you don’t know Penny Arcade, you probably should start before you play. It’s not that you need to know any of the last 10 years of comics, or the characters and their interactions, but you won’t have the amazement that some of us have when Tycho & Gabe helped us through the hard times, showed us to be different, explained lifes mysteries, On top of that, to understand that they run Childs Play, a company that raises money, via various means, to buy games & consoles for childrens hospitals.

OK, back on track…

PA: E1 allows you to create your own 60s cartoon character, who is then swept up into saving the town from robot fruit-fuckers, hobos, barbershop quartets, and mimes.  That alone is rather humorous, but the writing and response choices are worth the gameplay alone.  My daughter and I were both laughing until tears streamed down our cheeks during one fabulous response (ok, we may have been on sugar highs, but still) and it got a guffaw out of Ymiris & I a number of times.  The writing is obviously the same as Penny-Arcade.com, so if the above comics do turn you off, you will want to look closely at the game play to see if it is something you are looking for.

The gameplay follows a turn-based RPG, complete with nerdy dice roll, and “ok, this character do this now, and wait for this character and that one” continuity, which overall we neglect here at CoupleGaming, mostly because brainiac or fast-paced games seem to be our forte.  That being said, after this game I feel I may be greatly neglecting a genre.  This game shows some of the best parts of TBGs:  a need to plan ahead, as well as reflexes based on past experience with specific characters.   (Yes, you do need to remember to block or you are going to keep dying *cough* Squidpunch *cough*)

The length of the game, about 8 hours of gameplay if you take your time, makes it worth the $20, and the acheivements aren’t too difficult, nor too redundant.   Ymiris & I both played through it, some of it with our 8-year old watching (but don’t be mistaken, you should play through it and then decide if it is suitable for your child), and enjoyed it for the most part.  Your spouses playing style may kill ya’ (BLOCK! OK now your green is up. .Do Green! DO IT!! Use your Orange! Why haven’t you used your Invisible Box? What?? The Cat?? Are you serious?!?!1!1) but it’s a good paced learning curve for your non-gaming spouse to give it a try (before you).

As I stated before, you do not have to know Penny-Arcade to enjoy this game; Ymiris played this entire game and enjoyed a lot of the quips and characters, but I’m fairly sure I enjoyed the nuances and the writing style, knowing what I was in for.

So.. Yes.. I suggest PAE1 for all couple gamers.. it’s on DLCA for XBOX 360 as well as downloadable for the PC (so I am told).

Now to sit back and wait for PAE2…