Grand Theft Auto 4 Price Change

Grand Theft Auto 4, one of the biggest titles of 2008 is finally going to be released next Tuesday, however it aint gonna come cheap.

In a strange annoucement by Rockstar, GTA4 which was originally ERP (Estimated Retail Price) of £39.99 has now come round and said that the official RRP (Real Retail Price) is going to be £49.99, £10 more than what most people expected - This is the first game to be priced this high since 360/PS3 Games were dropped to the £39.99 price tag.

No Idea why rockstar have upped the price, BUT is it really worth it?, well for the PS3 i would say NO, however for the Xbox 360, possibly and thats not because i prefer the 360 of the PS3, its because of what happened when we started playing it at work.

We Booted up the game and was welcomed with a firmware update, which is probably already available for download over on the PSN, once the update was installed it automatically started copying over the 4GB (or so) worth of data onto the PS3s HDD - this is to make the game load faster and feel more smooth, once it was installed the game began with an interesting and amusing cut-scene, however the problem was that it was very dark and very difficult to see - we tested this on a 1080p Panasonic 37" LCD (LX80 Range) and on a 1080I Samsung 42" Plasma (Q90 Range) and the outcome was the same, very dark and unplayable - so we turned the brightness up and a white door appeared out of nowehere. We tested the 360 version on the same TV's and the game appeared to be normal aswell as loading abit slower than the PS3 Version, but nothing to grumble about.

In terms of graphics and controls, the graphics are, as you would expect from GTA, great but nothing like Gears Of War (i.e. smooth and shiny), however the difference from previous GTA games is noticeable (alot) - the control scheme is the same as the previous games - easy and simple to use - but as i usually say, if you have a good formula, why change it?

Grand Theft Auto is £49.99 and will be released on Tuesday 29th April 2008 - some stores, such as Gamestation and Game are opening at midnight to sell this game (but check before going down).

New N-Gage Links Added

Just a quick heads up to everyone that reads this blog *silence* that ive added 2 NEW N-Gage releated links to the links section, which are:

N-Gation - My Friend Hoax2000 (also an N-Gager) has created his own N-Gage blog and fills it full of his own opinions, news and reviews - so its worth a read if you want to see honest, personal opinions regarding n-gage games that are out at the moment.

N-Gage Blog - This is the OFFICIAL N-Gage Blog, hosted and posted (sounds pritty cool) by Ikona himself (ikona is an N-Gage Mod/Admin on the N-Gage Forums), basically anything thats new in the n-gage (or nokia world) is posted up on this website and is DEFINATELY worth a read.

New N-Gage Games Released & Freebies for Europeans

Two New N-Gage Games (which were previously released during the First Access Beta Peroid) are now available to download and purchase for real, first off is "Block Breaker Deluxe" (shown to the right) and has to be one of my favourite games that i played during first access. The 2nd Game to be released this week is THQ's classic TETRIS (which EA have published onto the N-Gage).

Both Games are available for download through the N-Gage application

and will cost £6 Each. These games may not look like much but they do offer a fair amount of enjoyment.

Not only that for us in europe we can download and activate EA's FIFA 08 for FREE on the N-Gage, all you have to do is download the n-gage application (or skip past the download if you already have it) and enter your mobile number, a few seconds later you will be sent a download link which will open up the game and activate it for you - however you must be able to connect to the internet for the activation to be downloaded onto your phone, or else it wont work. But either way saying £8 and a free game is always a good free, of course if you did it via wifi you would'nt get charged it all.

The only downfall to the free Fifa 08 game is that there is only 200,000 Free coupons available, so you better hurry up and get one before they all go. To Claim your Free Copy of Fifa 08 and download the N-Gage application click here. Also on a side note it makes it alot easier if you download an install the N-Gage application and then download and install Fifa 08 onto your phone before you try and use the activation link.

Metal Gear Online Beta on UK PS3 Store

Konami's online addition to the Metal Gear Universe is now online, well the BETA anyway, this beta will run from Monday 21st April till 6th May 2008 - so their isn't alot of time to play it (not if you have other stuff to do).

The download itself is FREE and so is playing online, also up to 16 players can battle online on two different maps - but this is just the taster, as more will follow when the final version is released with Metal Gear Solid 4 later in the year (estimated june 2008)

The file itself is 741mb (average size for a demo nowadays) and should'nt take longer than around an hour (on 2mb broadband) to download.

So what you waiting For - go and download it NOW! as time is running out.

Nokia 5320 N-Gage Compatible?

The people over at AAN (All About N-Gage) recently put up some rather interesting information stating that Nokia's Latest Xpress Music Edition phone will be N-GAGE compatible, which in my opinion is rather odd - as alot of n-gagers (new and old) are waiting for the N-Gage application to be fully compatible with their N73's and N93 (N93i), but saying that this new phone is not due out till the end of the year, so their is plenty of time for the application to come out.

The New 5320 has similar specificartions to the previous models, as well as the N81, but will be alot cheaper at around 220 Euros (Sim-free and unlocked) - not only that it will have dedicated gaming keys (like the N81) but are placed in two odd places - one being on the front, and the other being on the side.

For more information on the 5320, check it out here.

Return Of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon on DS

Less than a year (for UK Nintendo DS Owners) since Pokemon Diamond & Pearl were launched and yet again we are bombarded with two brand new Pokemon Games.

The two new pokemon DS games aren't exactly new, but more like seqeuals - as they continue the series (or story if you like) of "Mystery Dungeon" which were released 2 years ago (if not more) on DS and GBA, which involved in you taking on a role of a pokemon rescue team and you were one of the pokemon!

The new wave of "Mystery Dungeon", which are labelled "Explorers Of Darkness" and "Explorers of time"will feature over a 100 new pokemon (compared to the previous versions of the game) and will take part in the shinoh region (same region as diamond and pearl games).

I havent heard any details on what the story is going to be like but im guessing its going to be rather similar to the first - except (and this is a wild guess) that "explorers in time" will involve you and your pokemon buddies travelling across time (like in Pokemon 4Ever movie with celibi), where as "explorers in darkness" will involve you and your pokemon in dark areas, such as caves and hidden underground lakes - aswell as up against dark styled pokemon.

yet again this is another Nintendo Wi-fi Connect game, so some sort of online mode is available - what it is, im not sure, but hopefully some form of online battling or even some challenging mini-games would be a nice addition.

Im guessing that everything else in the game will remain the same, as their is not much choice changing a perfect formula, the only problems i had with the previous dungeon games was that the controls seemed dodgey at times and i hope they have fixed that in these new releases.

These two games are set to be released VERY SOON in the USA, but no UK release dates have been announced as of yet, but when they are released expect a £29.99 price tag on them, which is your average price for a nintendo ds game in the UK.

Fake PSP/ PS3 Phone hits China

Looks like a PSP, plays like a GBA and has the backwards design of a phone and for once im not talking about the N-Gage.

While browsing around the internet i found this rather interesting picture (but with hardly any details surrounding it). From what i can gather its another one of china's fake cheapo entertainment systems.

Ever since the original GBA came out, china have been making "copycat" versions but instead of GBA game they use games like PONG, or Mr Game & Watch, or old style LCD Racing games, then when the DS and PSP were released they did the same thing, but in colour - the PSP was called POPSTATION, heck they even made a copy of the N-GAGE and called it N-GAME but had very worse games.

Now few years later a fake or copy of the PSP Phone (which has been rumoured alot recently) has been seen for sale in dodgey shops around china, but instead of being branded a PSP Phone (or popstation mobile) its been branded as the PS3 Game Player, whats more amusing is that it has the shortended PS3 logo and the Japanese SNES Logo all mixed into one.

What is rather cool is that it has a decent button layout, better colour screen, some sort of camera and a rather interesting game that i can only describe as a Street Fighter clone.

We all know that the chinese are forging stuff left right and center but this is just crazy and to be honest looks pritty cool. im sure it won't be long before european shops sell these for around £10.

Playstation 3 Comparison 60GB V 40GB

Last Year (March 23rd to be exact) Sony's Latest Home Entertainment System the PLAYSTATION 3 arrived in the UK, with a 60GB HDD, 4 USB Ports and Card readers as standard. Less than a year later a 40GB Model was released, which was offered at a lower price with lower features.

The 1st model (now dubbed as the 60GB PS3) was released at a whopping £425, the 2nd model (dubbed as the 40GB PS3) was released at £330, but then most recently lowered to £299.

The 60GB PS3 is now hard to get hold of (and for some people) its on their most wanted list, for me ive already got mine as i paid the hefty £425 price tag.

The 60GB Version comes as standard with:

* 60GB Hard Drive
* 4x USB 2.0 Ports
* CF/SD/MMC/MSPro Card Reader (Adaptors for Miro SD/Mini SD/MSProduo are accepted)
* Backwards compatiblity with some PS1/PS2 Games

The 40GB Version comes as standard with just 2x 2.0 USB Ports and contains now other additional features, however if you do abit more "digging" into comparison their is alot more to find.

The Picture to the right is of 2 PLAYSTATION 3's, the first being a 60GB Version and the 2nd being a 40GB Version, they look pritty similar - but they are not.

The PLAYSTATION 3's name of the console is individually pieces of silver reflective plastic stuck onto the machine, so when you rub your hand across it, it is rasied up and shines light into your face, the 40GB Version is just painted on grey and makes it look abit dull. Also the silver shiny disc tray and the strip at the bottem of the console is yet again a dull grey on the 40GB Version. It makes the console look cheap and a fake, espically in comparison to the bigger brother. I guess it does not matter much, however when sitting underneath your TV the 60GB Verison looks like an expensive samsung tv (and would go nicely with the new Series 4/5 range), but the 40GB Version looks rather cheap and nasty (like a polaroid tv). In some peoples eyes it won't make much difference, but these ARE differences which not many people have pointed out.

Another thing i noticed was the labelling on the back of the console. The 60GB Version (yet again on the right side of the picture) was clearly marked in white writing to give you, the customer, clear knowledge on where to connect your leads. The 40GB Version is just written in black and since the console is black itself, it isn't exactly easy to read.

Most people will not even see the back of the console (espically after they have plugged it in) - but even i was surprised to see there was a difference in labelling - like i said before its making the 40GB PS3 look like a cheap knock off.

Apart from thoose differences on the outside, i doubt there is any "real" difference on the inside - the only other final difference is that the 40GB PS3 DOES NOT play PS1 or PS2 Games, like the 60GB Version does -but that was the whole reason for its release, as sony once said in a press release.

To sum up on the whole "backards compatiblity on PS3" i aslways say for gamers who just want to play PS3 Games than buy a 40GB PS3, if your wanting to play PS1/PS2 Games go for the 60GB, However since backwards compatibility is arkward on the 60GB PS3, and in some ways non-existent, you might aswell buy a 40GB PS3 and get a cheap PS2 off someone, as it will be ALOT easier and less hassle.

The Reason for this post was because my brother brought round his 40GB PS3 and i always thought (apart from the specs of USB , Card Reader and backwards compatibility) that everything else was the same - but in this case i was wrong, the 40GB PS3 has a slightly different design and colour, which in some ways is abit odd as its the same machine with a few less features. Still at least you can tell which is which if you had both.

The 60GB PS3 has now been discounted, but still sells pre-owned for around £400, the 40GB Version is still available and costs £300 (usually with a game like Gran Turismo 5 Prologue), a new slimer PS3 has also been rumoured to be released later this year - but details are still to be confirmed.

Rock Band UK Annoucement.

After a rather long wait ROCK BAND has officially been given the go ahead for a UK release, however this wait does not come cheap, so prepare to save your cash.

Rock Band will be released on the Xbox 360 on 28th May, but that is where the good news ends, EA have announced that the PS2, PS3 and Wii versions will be released later in the summer and unlike the USA Launch of the game you will have to buy the accessories and game seperately.

In America the game was bundled together in a "special edition" package for around $180 (£90), this included the Game, Wireless Guitar (Wired Guitar for Xbox 360), Drum kit and microphone. But at the same time you could buy the game on its own for $40 (£20) and each accessory on its own for around $30 - $90 (£15 - £45) depending on which on you bought (or where you bought it from).

Well when the game gets released over here you will have to buy the game on its own and then buy the bundle pack of the accessories (or buy them on its own), however the total retail price comes up to around £180 (same price as a Nintendo Wii & £20 more expensive than a 360 Arcade).

So if you really want this game i would suggest importing it from the USA, as the PS3 Version is Region FREE and it only cost me £84 for the Special Edition Version (but then another £44 shipping) - but its still ALOT Cheaper than what it is when it is released in this country. The Xbx 360, Wii and PS2 Versions are all region encoded and can not be played on a UK Machine without it being mod-chipped in some way (you could use Freeloader / Swapmagic on Wii/PS2 Versions).

Nokia: Get Out And Play Website.

Next-Gen N-Gage (aka N-Gage 2.0) has finally been released and the applications is available for download and so is 6 games.

The N-Gage 2.0 was officially launched last thursday with the n-gage application available for MOST N-series devices apart from the N73 and N93/ N93i - however the people with N81's, N82's and N95's the fun was just about to begin.

Even though the N-GAGE has been launched a week already Nokia have created a photo-stop annimation website telling you "in breif" what the N-Gage platform on your device is all about, the site isn't officially up and running till 15th April, however ive had a quick peek at the website and its hilarious but tells you the right information.

To summarize the website starts off as a photo-stop animation (instead of real-time movement there is abit of delay like in old stlye cartoons), then after the annimation you play block breaker but with real life people (which is rather fun) then the bloke (once again in annimation) goes back to his home. Once it ends you are treated with several pages of information (in breif) regarding the N-Gage platform, its online vales and its games.

The Website also features other things such as "the longest human snake" - its an amusing website (with a nice retro tune in the background) and its worth a look once its officially up and running, however be warned it does take a few minutes to get into the webpage.

If you wish to visit the website once its up and running then keep checking the N-Gage Blog for more information about it, but it should be up by 15th April.