The Collectors Editon Box

Opening the box – reveals that the packaging is cooler than I thought

Replica of Jim Raynors Dog tags is pretty sweet – Actually a 2GB USB Stick with the original game and the Brood Wars Expansion

Another image of the dog tags plugged into the system

From left to right – StarCraft 2 Game, Soundtrack and Making of Video

4 Guest Passes 2 x StarCraft 2 for 7hrs of game time or 14 Days whichever comes first and 2x 10 Day guest passes for World of Warcraft
Comic Book Issue #0 and the unbelieveable Hardcover art book – A must have for anyone who appreciates game art.

Level Pack includes:

• 4 Brand new Marvel themed Levels
• 3 New music tracks
• A New level background
• 6 Materials
• 12 Decorations
• 5 Objects
• 155 Stickers

Pricing US $4.99
Compatible with LBP and LBP2

Character Pack Includes:

• Iron Man’s Rocket Boots, Iron Man’s Gauntlets, Iron Man’s Helmet, Iron Man Skin, Iron Man’s Armour
• The Thing Skin
• Mystique Mask, Mystique’s Goggles, Mystique’s Hair, Mystique Skin, Mystique’s Belt, Mystique’s Eyes
• Daredevil’s Boots, Daredevil’s Mask, Daredevil’s Gloves, Daredevil’s Horns, Daredevil’s Trousers, Daredevil Skin, Daredevil’s Shirt
• Doctor Octopus Claw, Doctor Octopus’s Goggles, Doctor Octopus’s Hair, Doctor Octopus Skin, Doctor Octopus’s Tentacle Arms

Pricing US $5.99
Compatible with LBP and LBP2

Ok folks, I’ve been busting my ass off to get all this info into one nice and tidy location to give you an update on all the news that’s come out of E3. Today I bring you the Big 3 Press Conference Roundup.

Microsoft
- Xbox Slim revealed, on its way to retail and I pout for the rest of the day because I don’t like the design
- UK launch date of July 16th for Xbox 360 Slim
- “Natal” is now known as “Kinect” gets November 4th launch date in North America but still no firm pricing details aside from Gamestop accepting pre-orders at a price of $149.99
- Call of Duty DLC to get times Xbox exclusivity until 2012
- Metal Gear Solid Rising gets Kinect support
- Crytek reveals Xbox 360 exclusive Codename Kingdoms. Very little is shown at this point
- Star Wars Kinect feels the Force in what could be a pretty cool game
- Fable III takes to the stage and makes me think that this could well be the best game in the series by far from the looks of it alone. Fable 3 is due out on October 26th
- Ubisoft reveals Kinect fitness title and my wife tells me she has to have this (Anyone from Ubisoft able to help us out)
- Gears of War 3 gets demoed and Cliffy B mentions “Beast Mode” but they don’t show it at the press event; upon further investigation Beast is like Horde Mode but you use the Locusts (Sign me up)
- Forza 4 announced, gets Kinect support
- Microsoft reveals controller-less Video Kinect software and 5 of the launch titles which all appear to have their own level of fun
- Total Halo series sales reach 34m worldwide
- Kinectimals gives Xbox 360 the cute factor and I sigh heavily with complete indifference
- ESPN signs free content deal for Gold subscribers and this is awesome news with 3500 live and pre-recorded events
- Kinect Sports revealed
- Kinect gets lenghty demo
- Dance Central eyes big audience – Blech
- Doubters silenced by impressive Kinect demonstration – Kinect is available on November 4th 2010
- Microsoft eyes 100m userbase
- 2010 “a year of transformation” for Xbox

All in All it was a decent showing by MS but I felt a little underwhelmed by the amount of software they showed off. There really isn’t all that much in the way of “HOLY CRAP” software titles coming exclusive to MS this year or next that they showed. Kinect looks like it has the potential to be alot of fun and extremely innovative. It’s like the future is appearing before our very eyes with this new technology so here’s hoping that the developers are working hard on Killer Apps for this thing and we hear about them sooner than later. While we’re still on the topic of Kinect, MS failed to deliver a concrete price – EBGames and GameStop are accepting pre-orders at $149 which may be a little high for some people who still haven’t seen any proper titles aside from the minigame apps they showed at E3. The nice thing is that you can still do up to 4 people with Kinect with no extra hardware.

I give Microsoft a B-

Nintendo

- Zelda: Skyward Sword announced by Miyamoto and demoed by them man himself only to experience “Interference” when trying to show the game’s “1:1 accuracy”
- Zelda the Skyward Sword is due out sometime in 2011 (if the past is any indicator, this is negotiable)
- Nintendo 3DS announced officially
- No launch date for 3DS
- Wide publisher support for 3DS praised
- Kid Icarus to front 3DS march and the crowd erupts in cheers for the little guy (I admit that I was kinda excited to see him too)
- Dragon Quest 9 for the DS is coming Stateside in 26 days
- Donkey Kong Country Returns and everyone who owned a SNES wiped a small tear from their face
- 3D move support for 3DS
- Mario Sports Mix debuts but won’t be available until 2011
- Epic Mickey due this Q4 and it looks effin sweet man. I must play this game.
- NBA Jam takes to the stage
- Just Dance 2 dated for Christmas – any male over the age of 11 yawns
- Wii Party dated
- Reggie refutes ‘Wii slump claims’
- Goldeneye gets officially unveiled and every fanboy who still claims that N64 was a great system in part to the original title sheds tears of joy and checks their shorts
- Kirby’s Epic Yarn debuts and is due out this Fall – Looks pretty but not my cup of tea
- Metroid Other M gets US date of August 31 2010
- Nintendo’s & Cats heading to 3DS – Yawn

Nintendo came out swinging for the fence this year – They started off with a bang by announcing the new Zelda game and the fun didn’t stop there. Seems that Big N is feeling nostalgic these days with the re-emergence of Donkey Kong Country, Kid Icarus, Metroid and Kirby. The official unveiling of 3DS was exciting and I can’t wait to get my hands on it to see just how awesome the 3D looks without the glasses. They lost the heart rate sensor this year and no more idiotic looking music games on the stage either. This is what the Nintendo fans have been waiting for – A solid showing by Nintendo showing off nothing but awesome 1st party titles but where are the killer 3rd party titles?

I give Nintendo a B

Sony
- Move given price, launch date; Sept 19th in the USA and Sept 15th is Europe at a bundle price with the PS Eye, a move controller and game for $99
- Gran Turismo 5 gets release date and supports 3D on Nov 2, 2010
- Valve connects Steam to PS3 and Gabe Newell finally sells out and removes foot from mouth; Portal 2 coming to PS3
- PSN subscription service on the way at a price of $49.99 for the year and includes a variety of cool extras including free games; Service to start the end of June 2010
- PS3 gets exclusive content for Mafia 2, Medal of Honor and Dead Space 2
- Medal of Honor Beta exclusive to PS3 of June 21st and release date of Oct 12, 2010
- Current PS3 titles get Move update (Tiger Woods 2011 and Heavy Rain to name a few)
- New game Sorcery revealed – Looks like this could be an awesome game; Due out in 2011
- Killzone 3 dated; Feb 2011 and demoed in 3D; I am green with envy of anyone with 3D TV
- Twisted Metal PS3 closes show and I drool and get whisked back to my high school years and late nights killing my buddies on split screen until the wee hours of the morning
- Final Fantasy XIV showcased
- Third parties show big 3D support; 20 3D titles to be available by March 2011
- Sony ‘fronting 3D movement’ with over 35 million installed PS3s that are already 3D ready by a small software update
- 70 new PSP games promised by Christmas
- 40 publishers working on Move games
- Sly Cooper coming to PS3 in 3D
- Heroes on the Move announced
- Move ties massive Coca-Cola promo deal
- New PSP ad drive kicks off
- LittleBigPlanet 2 gets demoed and it looks so sweet
- Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood gets PS3-only content
- Infamous 2 coming in 2011 and I really love the new art direction and character designs.

This was a good event – It had some surprises, comedy all thanks in part to the man Kevin Butler who everyone loves and it showcased some awesome titles. Move looks to be nothing more than Wii HD as many have dubbed it but the accuracy appeared to be incredible and golf looked to be just amazing. I love 3D and have been a huge supporter of it for years. To know that my PS3 is already to go is exciting to me regardless of my lack of proper 3D hardware (Christmas is coming). In general I think Sony had more titles that interested me despite the fact that they showed much of their hand in the weeks precluding to E3.

I give Sony a B+

All in all we all win as gamers but I would have to give the slight edge to Sony as the big winner with Nintendo close behind and Microsoft in the caboose at 3rd place.

The game puts you in the shoes of retired Outlaw John Marston who is trying to track down some of his old gang mates in an effort to save his wife and child who are being held by corrupt government officials (who knew right? Gov employees…Corrupt? That’s impossible). As far as the story goes, that’s as much as I’ll tell you to avoid spoilers.

The gameplay mechanics are almost identical to those found in the Grand Theft Auto Series. As the protagonist, you have certain goals and rely on the help of others to get you the information required to meet said goals. They in turn use the main character as a very efficient errand boy who gets things done. Much like GTA, if you do something wrong the police come after you but now they place bounties on your head which can be paid off by a simple visit to the telegraph office or with a pardon letter or just completely avoiding the town for a prolonged period of time.

During the course of the game, it’s easy to get distracted by the myriad of mini missions and side quests that jump out at you as you and your trusted steed trail blaze across the Wild West. Some of the missions include proving your prowess with firearms in an old fashioned duel, saving the damsel in distress or returning hijacked horses and carriages.

The world in RDR is massive and I wonder if it’s possibly bigger than the wastelands of Fallout 3 and GTA because it sure seems to take a long time to get from point A to B at times…There’s even an achievement that requires you to get from Blackwater, USA to Escalera, Mexico before sundown. Racing across the countryside can wear on one’s nerves though, if all you want to do is see what’s coming next in the story (you’ll find that the story is rather engrossing) then the sheer size can seem daunting and rather annoying at times – Luckily there is fast travel available via stagecoaches but even then sometimes it can mean travelling in the opposite direction before getting to one.

The online aspect of the game is quite entertaining and though I only had minimal time playing it due to internet issues as of late, I can see myself playing this for months to come. Free roaming gives you the ability to just randomly traverse the world on your own in MMOG fashion having to fend for yourself against other players or join up with friends and create a posse and take on the world together. Free Roam could use more missions but the real meat and potatoes of the game come from the gang or free for all matches where you engage in team or free for all matches.

Rockstar has just turned this series into a triple A title and with more DLC coming in the future, this game is potentially a contender for Game of the Year on many lists. Now git on lil doggy – I have a damsel to rescue.

Pros:

• Great story – as good as the best Western movies (so I’ve been told…I don’t like Westerns)
• Incredible voice acting – Memorable characters
• Replayability – There’s so much to do and see
• Online – Online game modes are insanely fun

Cons:

• Size – The world may be a little too big sometimes with too little going on during the long travels

Feed Your Console give Red Dead Redemption 10 out of 10

As usual, there are no spoilers in this review so feel free to read on.

The game is set in a small sleepy rural town in the mid North Western USA, Bright Falls. Complete with vibrant landscapes and wildlife, the town features some very quirky characters and unapologetically takes its cue right out of the cult classic TV series of the early 90s, Twin Peaks. You play the part of title character Alan Wake a best-selling author suffering from writer’s block who’s on vacation with his wife. When his wife Alice goes missing, it’s up to Alan to find her through the pages scattered throughout Bright Falls of a manuscript he doesn’t remember writing. He comes to the realization that a dark presence is at work and it’s up to him to save the woman he loves.

The game’s narrative is much like a book. As Alan completes certain tasks or reaches checkpoints, Alan narrates certain aspects to the gamer allowing for the story to progress much like a living book.
The graphics are beautiful. The town and environments are just as beautiful in the dark(sometimes more so) as they are in the light and the character models look incredible – Hey Alice, can I give you my phone number? (the actress is seriously hot and her model looks just like her). The only thing that’s not quite right is the lip syncing and this weird grimace that Alan Wake has that says “I just got kicked in the pills”. Apparently they’re working on a fix for that. When walking through the town or the forest at night, the baddies (known as “The Taken”) come at you in various forms and they are ‘effin creepy man, especially the sound that accompanies them which bring me to my next point.

The sound in this game is AMAZING! The sound directors and writers deserve huge props for some of the more intense and gripping soundtracks and sound effects I’ve experienced in a game for a in a long time. Whenever the music started to pick up the pace, my heart raced along with it – couple that with the ambient sounds of the game and the noises/voice of the Taken and you’re likely to find yourself sitting slightly higher in your seat and perhaps even turning the lights on.

This game has something I’ve been missing from all my so called “Horror survival games” – The scares. Truly feeling like the situation is dire or that feeling of dread as you round a corner to thematic music, second guessing the wind in the bushes or the silhouette in the distance is what made games like Resident Evil 1-3 so near and dear to me (sadly they lost that dynamic). The game had moments that made me jump and feel great moments of relief when it was all over.

Any avid book reader will tell you there’s nothing like a page turner which is exactly what Alan Wake is. Great Job Remedy – This game shall never leave my game collection and will go down as a classic title from this generation of consoles.

Feed Your Console gives Alan Wake 10 out of 10

Pros:

• Graphics – Simply put, beautiful
• Engaging Story – Keeps you wanting more(please make more)
• Sound Effects and soundtrack – Both of which will raise your heart rate
• Scare moments – this felt more like survival horror than anything in recent years

Cons:

• It ended – Seriously, why is the game over?
• Lip Synching and strange mouth movements by Alan – Reportedly a fix is forthcoming

** Thanks to Xbox for for supplying a review copy to Feed Your Console,/h6>

]]> http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/review-alan-wake/feed/ 2 http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/mario-galaxy-2-launch-event-toronto/ http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/mario-galaxy-2-launch-event-toronto/#comments Thu, 13 May 2010 15:59:35 +0000 Mvern78 http://www.feedyourconsole.com/?p=1930 Come one come all – Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be playable and open to the public during the launch event on May 23 at Yonge-Dundas Square here in Toronto. And we have been asked to invite all our readers to the event.

So Come on Down!

Be amongst the first to get your hands on Super Mario Galaxy 2 and try your luck – you could win 1 of 50 copies of the game.

]]> http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/mario-galaxy-2-launch-event-toronto/feed/ 2 http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/ea-locks-up-multi-player/ http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/ea-locks-up-multi-player/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 03:57:11 +0000 Mvern78 http://www.feedyourconsole.com/?p=1917 In the ongoing battle between New and Re-sale games EA has tossed a major wrench into the system, one big (pardon the pun) Game changer…

GotGame 590 posted this not long ago:

If you have yet to hear the latest from EA Sports, they’re about to introduce something new for the XBOX360 and PlayStation 3. They’re calling it the Online Pass, and it seems to be exactly what it sounds like. A redeemable code that will come in all unopened copies of EA Sports titles. When redeemed, it will give a single user access to what EA Sports calls, “online features and bonus content.”

Building on the idea of Mass Effect 2’s Cerberus network – only available to gamers that bought the game new or paid the DLC price to get access – EA will not lock down online play for many of there new titles going forward… Starting with Tiger Woods 11.

EA release this video to show you how it will work. New games come with DLC codes to be entered when activating multi-player or pay 800 MSP (Shown in video). For those of you that prefer to rent – you can get a 7 day trial activation, so you wont have to worry about being out of pocket the 800 MSP to try the MP gameplay.

EA Sports: Online Pass Feature Tutorial

]]> http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/ea-locks-up-multi-player/feed/ 3 http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/first-images-and-video-assassins-creed-brotherhood/ http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/first-images-and-video-assassins-creed-brotherhood/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 16:45:32 +0000 Mvern78 http://www.feedyourconsole.com/?p=1908 Today on Twitter the Public Relations Manager for Ubisoft Canada – release this image from in the Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood game – that was just recently announced.

Below you will see what looks to be Ezio perched on the walls of the Roman Coliseum looking down on a group of potential targets.

GameTrailers has also posted two videos hinting at what’s to come.

Game Trailer

New Weapons:

Stay up to date with the official Assassin’s Creed Website (no showing new weapons).

]]> http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/first-images-and-video-assassins-creed-brotherhood/feed/ 0 http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/forum-logos-with-skillz/ http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/forum-logos-with-skillz/#comments Fri, 07 May 2010 17:41:43 +0000 Mvern78 http://www.feedyourconsole.com/?p=1898 Are you tired of being the only guy in the forums without a sweet team logo? Maybe you are like me and your photo editing skills are worse then that noob you were pwning all night…

Don’t fret because GamerLogo’s has got your back.

Offering up a number of different options for every budget – get your self a base package consisting of a single logo file right or go for the Pro-gold option which includes the following;

• Logo File
• Forum team signature
• Forum team avatar
• Forum team fanbar
• Team wallpaper
• Game Battles “Team Logo”
• Game Battles “Team Avatar”
• Team custom speaker tag design

See examples of the work done by Gamers Logos here.

Act now – and get in on the grand opening special.

About GamerLogos:
GamerLogos is a company dedicated to gamers of all ranges who want to revamp or improve their image in the competitive gaming scene. A logo helps represent your real identity and professionally brand your team and individuality.

]]> http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/forum-logos-with-skillz/feed/ 4 http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/welcome-to-beta/ http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/welcome-to-beta/#comments Tue, 04 May 2010 03:14:27 +0000 Mvern78 http://www.feedyourconsole.com/?p=1859 It’s HERE IT’s HERE!!!! Halo Reach Beta is here! OK I’m a little excited about this and after a weekend of battling it out with the few (thousand) that received early access to the Beta I can say that this is not a disappointment for Fans of the Halo Series.

New character classes, New Maps and new game types await. Get ready for Reach with this video from Aisha Tyler discussing the new features and the ground rules for the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta!

Bungie has also released a schedule for new maps that will be released during the beta testing:

• Grab Bag – May 3
• Free For All – May 3
• Arena – May 3
• Invasion – May 7
• Network Test 1 – May 14

Happy Fragging

]]> http://www.feedyourconsole.com/2010/05/welcome-to-beta/feed/ 1