Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen Game - Pre Order Incentives

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen may be this years biggest summer blockbuster movie and with most "major" films a half-assed attempt at a game is released.

Well this time is no different, however being "TRANSFORMERS" i have no complaints wether or not the game is good or bad, but what is amusing is the "pre-order incentives" what GAME and Gamestation did in the UK to get you to buy the game.

At GAME if you pre-ordered the game you recieved (on same day of purchasing the game) a XBL Marketplace (or PSN) Code that would allow you to download "GOLD" forms of Megatron and Optimus Prime, which could only be used online. In my opinion that was a pritty poor attempt at getting you to buy the game as gold items tend to get boring very quick in online games, take a look at Gears Of War 2 - majority of the people who play it online either have Golden Lancers (Gears 2 Limited Edition) or Gold hammerburst (Gears 2 Midnight Launch) - you hardly see any people playing with regular weapons - so this could possibly happen online aswell (as i believe Gamestop in the USA did the same offer).

Gamestation on the other hand decided to give away a T-Shirt if you pre-ordered the game, and this applied to ALL PLATFORMS, such as DS, Wii, PS2, PS3 and Xbox 360, so as long as you pre-ordered the game you recieved a t-shirt - which in my opinion is better then gold characters as it adds abit more clothing to your wardrobe. The T-Shirt itself is a thin summer styled shirt in White, with Artistic design of the Autobot logo with Optimus Prime and a few other autobots, however thats just the front - i havent checked the back out yet.

So was the game worth £40, im not sure - im just glad i got a cool looking t-shirt (and for once, one thats not black) - Happy Gaming!

Energizer Cashes In On Playstation 3 Accessories

As Most of you may know "Energizer" are a popular, and pritty decent, Battery and Re-chargable Battery manufacturer - however i have to admit they have been quiet for awhile.

Well now "Energizer" are releasing a bunch of "Charging Accessories" for the Playstation 3, starting with the classic (and release before in another 3rd party name brand) Duo Controller Charge stand with 2 USB Sockets two charge two additional controllers.

The same stand (and style) has been used before on another 3rd Party charging stand for the PS3, however it did not drag much attention due to the "unknown" nature of the brand, not so this time with "Energizers" name written on the box.

The Estimated RRP price for this charging stand is £19.99 - £24.99 and can be picked up in a variety of places, such as Gamestation, Game, Currys and PC World. The Energizer Charge Station is now available to buy.

Im assuming that now "Energizer" has released a Playstation 3 styled charging system that within a few months a "Wii Charge Stand" and maybe even a xbox 360 battery pack charger will be released, only time will tell i guess.

Introducing Xbox Mobi

Many months, maybe even years, ago Microsoft stated that Xbox Live would not just be about gaming on your xbox console as it was going to get intergrated into PCs, Web Browsers and even mobile phones.

Well for the past year the first two have been going smoothly, with Games For Windows Live having a "slow" start but with the service now FREE, Achievement whores (and xbox 360 users) can still play the games they enjoy with achievements on the pc, not to mention the new web browsing option, where, if signed into your xbox account, you can browse the xbox live marketplace on xbox.com and choose what to download, as soon as you turn your xbox 360 on (and connect to live) it will automatically start downloading the files you have selected.

Well Microsoft has now introduced Xbox Mobi, where using the power of mobile internet and text messaging service you can recieve weekly (or monthly) updates from xbox discussing the latest news, previews and marketplace content - not to mention download some nice xbox themed extras for your phone.

For more information head over to the official Xbox Mobi website here.

HD-DVD Price Crash At Gamestation

As previously mentioned on this blog countless times HD-DVD Players and films are "OFFICIALLY" dead, however this does not stop some retailers from selling them, which is a good thing for Techno-geeks like myself.

HD-DVD is a cheap alternative to Blu-ray films, espicaly the older films that havent been ported to blu-ray yet such as Superman 2, Accepted or Tomb Raider -as these films can easily be picked up for around £5 on HD-DVD where as Blu-ray RRP will be around £15, all because HD-DVD is a dead format.

Anyway Gamestation, one of the last few places to "walk in and buy" a HD-DVD Film, not to mention a HD-DVD Drive for the xbox 360, are selling majority of their films at a bargin price of £1.99, so thats 5 films for under a tenner (£9.95) - however these films arent pre-owned or used either, they are brand new and sealed films.

The films werent crap either as they had films such as "Superman Returns, Shrek The 3rd, The Reaping, 300, Out Of Sight, Mecury, Mr Beans Holiday and a few Harry Potter Movies" and this is just a selection from my local store, so other bigger stores could have more of a wider range.

Basically if youve got a HD-DVD Player and looking for some classic HD Movies then had to gamestation as their HD-DVD Range is now only £2 per film - bargin!!

Rock Band: The Beatles Limited Edition Bundle Announced

Activision may be releasing up to 5 different Guitar Hero games this year (Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, Guitar Hero 5 etc) but Rock Band is only releasing two and they deffinately know how to pull it off.

Both games are expected to be released later in the year at similar times which are "LEGO: Rock Band" and "Rock Band: The Beatles", however its "The Beatles" edition of the game that is dragging the most attention by old and new fans alike.

The original game (solous) will be on all platforms (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2) and will cost around 40 GBP, however MTV & Harmaonix have announced that they are also releasing a special "Limited Edition" bundle of the game.

No official specifications have been announced however the bundle will include the "FULL-BAND KIT" , but this is a kit with a difference, as each gaming accessory (i.e. the guitar, the bass, the drums etc) are styled exactly as the beatles used them, for example the Rickenbacker 325 and Gretsch Duo Jet are a pair of full-bodied, classic guitars used extensively by John Lennon and George Harrison and the plastic counterparts look extremely awesome.

The drum kit and microphone are also supposed to replicate the exact ones used by the other two members of the beatles, so if you like the beatles (or classic guitars) then this is a must buy.

Another extra (which i find rather annoying) in this bundle is a microphone stand, so now you can play the guitar and sing the song at the same time without having to use a headset (espically on xbox 360 or PS3).

So at the moment the "Rock Band: Beatles Edition" contains Guitar, Bass Guitar, Microphone, Drum Kit, Game and Microphone Stand, but i am expecting something more "special" to be announced closer to when the game is released, however at the moment this package will cost 180 GBP, which is 30 GBP more than "Guitar Hero World Tour Band Pack" and 20 GBP more than buying "Rock Band + Band In A Pack Box" - however the difference is that its 60's styled accessories and you get a bass guitar (as usually you only get 1 guitar).

In my opinion i like the look of the guitars, but ive already got enough - so ill stick to LEGO Rock Band for now!

Capcom To Release Two New Wii Resident Evil Games

The Resident Evil series may be over and done with, espically after the short ending of wesker (the master-mind behind majority of Resident Evil games) being blown to bits by sheva and chris, however this does not stop CAPCOM bringing out new titles for the Nintendo Wii.

However "NEW" might not be the correct term as the two games that are expected to be released onto the Nintendo Wii this year are "Resident Evil Archives" and "Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles".

Resident Evil Achives is the gamecube version of Resident Evil ported onto the Nintendo Wii with a few "graphical" improvements and obviously some control differences (i.e. wii-mote and kunchuck). Capcom also said that a few other differences may appear in the game.

The 2nd game is "Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles" which was previously mentioned at TGS and E3, The Darkside chronicles is another re-make of Resident Evil 2, but uses the gameplay styles Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (i.e. an on rails arcade style shooter).

So two re-makes in one year for two popular classic resident evil games, makes me wounder if we will see a re-make of Resident Evil 3 and Code Veronica.

Rumours are flying around that Resident Evil Achives is to be released on Tuesday 23rd June 2009 in America (no word on a UK release), however Darkside Chronicles is due for release later in the year.

Ducati & Pinbusters N-Gage Developer Game Pages Are Up

Developer Vir2l Studios has recently uploaded new gamepages on its own website relating to two new N-Gage games, one of which is due out tomorrow (Tuesday 16th June).

The games are "AMF Bowling: Pinbusters" and "Ducati Moto" - both games are also appearing on the Nintendo DS, so it seems N-GAGE is good enough to compete with nintendo's mighty handheld.

AMF Bowling Pinbusters is also "rumoured" to be released tomorrow evening on the N-Gage Application, a rumour strongly supported by the N-Gage Arena as they have a "Power Hour" relating to the game on thursday.

Either way these are 2 games that are definately coming to the N-Gage platform in the near future.

Sega Vintage Collection Games Due On Xbox Live Arcade Tomorrow

As i mentioned a few months that majority of SEGA'S Classic megadrive titles that were once in "Ultimate Megadrive Collection" will now re-appear on Xbox Live Arcade (and Xbox Live Marketplace) as individual game downloads with individual achievements.

At first i thought they would be releasing a different title each week however it has been announced that all 6 games will be released tomorrow on xbox live arcade and each game will cost 400 MS Points - which isnt that bad, espically for some retro fun.

the games that are getting released tomorrow are Altered Beast, Phantasy Star II, Comix Zone, Shinobi, Sonic 3 and Gunstar Heroes. Me personally will definately be buying Sonic 3 (to complete the collection) and Gunstar Heroes.

Another thing to mention is that xbox live and the xbox website will be down for up to "24 hours" on tuesday 16th june, so dont be worried if you can not connect. the reason for the "down time" is that they are doing maintence on it aswell as various other things (lag free gaming on gears of war 2 would be a great help!). Enjoy!

E3 2009 On Xbox Live Begins!

E3 2009 may have began early for xbox related fans last nite, as on the xbox website they hosted a hour long (if not longer) press media session showing off clips of new games and announcing new ones - however the fun is only just beginning as E3 2009 officially starts today and with that all the trailer that were shown on xbox.com last night can be downloaded in FULL HD onto your xbox 360 console via the xbox live marketplace.

Not only this the latest "Guitar Hero" game demo has arrived (and im not talking about Metallica either), yes "Guitar Hero Greatest Hits" demo has arrived onto the Xbox live marketplace (UK Servers) - the demo is rather small at 490mb, so im guessing it will only have about 5 songs on it (hope they are good ones).

im expecting more game trailers, announcements and game demos to be uploaded throughout the week on xbox live marketplace, so if i were you id check back on the marketplace every day.