Couple Gaming

“No, you got Twitter on my DS!”

The two things I am so addicted to that when I say I “unplug for the weekend”, these are 2 things I leave out as more necessary than an oxygen tank. That’s right my Nintendo DS & Twitter are getting together and making a little DSTwitter baby, and I couldn’t be happier than if my own daughter had programmed it.

Sure, it’s made for DS2.0, and it’s currently in spanish.. but that’s just a hop, skip, and a jump from getting @feliciaday messages while playing Lost in Blue.   Oh, I’m so happy, I could cry.

I’d better start investing in little Twitterette cigars.

 http://kotaku.com/5038733/say-mucho-gust…

I am not sure how i missed this, maybe because we have been ever so busy on other things, including beta testing WarHammer, but it seems that Guitar Hero: World Tour Instruments will work with Rock band and possibly Rock Band 2.

the Xbox 360 version of “Guitar Hero: World Tour” will indeed be compatible with the instruments for the first “Rock Band.” The “GH” developers have, for obvious reasons, not been able to test their new game with the upcoming “Rock Band 2.” Other third-party guitar and drum controllers are expected to work with “GH: World Tour” as well.

This is by far the best news yet, this means that even the Ion drum set should work with GH: World tour as well!

PSN network has a new game, one that supposedly is best played with someone else, since I have yet to try it I can’t actually say if this is true or for that matter if the game is fun, but I have included the video and will let you decide. If you have played it let us know what you think.

Interesting news about Rock Band, it appears they want the average Rock Band player to abandoned the safety of their house and close friends and get on stage and let thousands of people watch them do their thing.  I am not sure this is something I would ever do, but if its for you see the details below.

    NEW YORK, July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The musical video game phenomenon of
Rock Band(TM) is coming to a city near you. This fall Rock Band Live
(http://www.rockbandlivetour.com) will travel across the country with
headline acts Panic At The Disco and Dashboard Confessional, together on
stage, with very special guests Plain White T's, The Cab, and possibly YOU!

    The concert tour will let Rock Band bands rock their way onto the main
stage with a truly interactive experience that allows fans to compete in
head-to-head competitions for the chance to play on the main stage
in-between the tour acts' sets. Bands will be selected through local radio
promotions, national contests and on-site at each show.

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/