A few people have asked me what the best order is for taking down the bosses in Mega Man 9. Well, here you go. Start at the top of the list and work your way down using the previous boss’ weapon. For the first one, just use the Mega Buster, obviously. Attempting to take the bosses down in any other order is something you shouldn’t probably try to do until you’re a certified expert of the game. I managed to beat Jewel Man first, but it was very, very, tough.
Besides an awesome fighting engine, Soulcalibur 4 has a deep and powerful create a character system. As you play the game, you’ll unlock not only new characters, but new clothing pieces that you can use to customize them or to create your own from scratch. Below are some of my favorites. Oh, and after the first 5, I’m going to put the rest behind a jump just to keep the main page from being a beast to load up.
Back when Soulcalibur (yes, the correct spelling is one word) released on the Dreamcast, I thought I was in absolute heaven. To that point, I hadn’t played such an enjoyable and amazing looking 3D fighter. I was never too big of a fan of Tekken, and Virtua Fighter never seemed to click just right with me, but Soulcalibur was a game that I enjoyed from the first time I sat down with it. When Soulcalibur II came out, I ended up going with the GameCube version (while also sinking a few bucks each week into the arcade version in my college’s arcade), and again, I found the game to be quite enjoyable. By this point, Soulcalibur was becoming one of my favorite fighting series, and when Soulcalibur III was announced I was pretty happy about it. Upon release, however, Soulcalibur III was a terrible disappointment for me and I didn’t play the game beyond the five days I had it for a rental.
Flash forward a bit and Soulcalibur IV is revealed for the 360 and PS3. I was skeptical about the game due to the lackluster SCIII, and the fact that the screens shown seemed to mostly exist to show off Ivy’s boobs (which were unnecessarily and embarrassingly large). The game neared and I kind of pushed it aside in my mind, and a week before release I threw it to the top of my Gamefly Q. I figured I needed to at least give it a chance. Well, a day before release I found out that I was getting a review copy, so I’d be stepping back into the realm once more for sure.
Is that really necessary? I mean, c’mon…
After playing the game for a few hours and messing around in its various modes, I must say that I’m impressed. The online worked very smoothly for me, and despite some extremely rusty skills, I had a great time online. The single player offerings were as good as we’ve seen in the past, and the character creation system is just plain amazing. Soulcalibur IV has easily the best fighter character creation ability that I’ve ever seen. The amount of depth and customization allowed in the creator is very cool.
The gameplay sits somewhere between what we saw in SCII and SCIII. Namco Bandai seems to have found a balance between what they needed to tone down in II and what they needed to scale back from III. Even this early in the experience, I can tell that we’re dealing with a much more balanced fighter than the last release, and this time around we’ll be able to get patches and tweaks via downloadable updates if needed. I’ve spent my time with the 360 version, but I hear that the PS3 version is practically identical from a gameplay standpoint. If you’re a fan of 3D fighters, then Soulcalibur IV is a guaranteed pleaser.
Now that looks like fun!
I’ll have my full review coming soon. I think I want to spend a bit more time online to see if when the numbers of people on Live pick up if the lag stays at a minimum. For a fighter these days, online play is very important.
-Sony show starts off with a crazy montage of video and noise
-some games are out, some are yet to be released
-In the first 30 seconds, they’ve already shown more than Nintendo did
-PS3, PSP, and PSN all represented in opening video
Jack Tretton (man, this guy is unbearable)
-He always seems nice, but he’s got the personality of tin foil
-PlayStation brand hitting its stride
-Seeds for PlayStation brand laid 15 years ago this week
-Sony took a longer look ahead when making their consoles, wanted 10 year life spans for consoles
-2 years into PSOne life cyclce, biggest hits still a year or more away
-Saying PS3 is primed to hit its stride
-PS3 drove Blu-ray format to victory
-Cell processor used to power supercomputers
-Folding at Home set a Guiness World Record
-More about how powerful the PS3 is
-The PS3 is most complete Blu-ray player
-I’m getting antsy, we know you have the games, Sony. We get it, the PS3 is powerful
-PlayStation in 2008 “all about software”
-Exclusive games make up the consumer’s mind
Resistance 2
-As expected,it looks stunning graphically
-Enemy is a massive monster…size of Godzilla
-The player is ducking into a building for cover and taking shots when possible at the monster
-It’s hard to describe this, it just looks fantastic and intense
-Set in 1953, America
-Chicago is a setting, border states under attack
-8 player online co-op
-60 player online competitive modes
-Game going for huge scale
-Twin Falls, Idaho level shown in a new trailer
Little Big Planet
-Sackboy dressed in Celtics gear
-LBP used to show charts off…much better than Powerpoint
-The game just looks so awesome
-The audience is definitely digging this manner of presentation
-In 2008, Sony will distribute official in Latin America
-10 million PS3s and 15 million PSPs are the sales goals for the year
-PS3 Greatest Hits starting this year at $29.99 (Resistance, Motorstorm, Warhawk, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night, Need for Speed Carbon, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Assassin’s Creed, Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden Sigma)
-LBP set to appeal to all demographics
PlayStation 2
-Success of PS2 allowed Sony to be more agressive with PS3
-More than 130 titles for PS2 in 2008
-Video montage showing upcoming games
-EA Sports stuff, Star Wars, Warriors orochi 2, Singstar, Yakuza 2, Mercenaries 2
-Buzz hits PS2, PS3, and PSP this year
-PS2 is perfect entry level system, new bundle to support that. Comes with Lego Batman (game) and Justice League: New Frontiers on DVD (film)
PlayStation Network
-All PlayStation users will have a unified id
-PSN to drive online social interaction between platforms
-Over 180 million downloads so far on PSN
Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty
-Shorter game, lower price
-Continuation of Ratchet and Clank Future storyline
-Looks very much like Tools of Destruction, but with some neat new abilities
-Ratchet’s wrench has new functionality
-$14.99 price
-Out “this summer”
PSN video montage being shown
-R&C: Quest for Booty, Crash Commando, Fat Princess, Pixel Junk Eden, Pain: Amusement Park, Flower, Siren: Blood Curse (scary as all get out), Ragdoll Kung Fu
-The games looked pretty good, overall
Gran Turismo TV
-Added to GT5: Prologue
-Free and pay-per-view distribution of shows
-Some original programming produced by Polyphony Digital
-In-depth looks at industry-related locations
-Behind the scenes footage of races, business, etc.
-Seems like a huge undertaking for a single game release…crazy stuff
-Top Gear part of the distribution
-Trophies part of gameplay and community strategy
PlayStation Home
-Games, film, video, music, and branded content all in one place
-Game specific spaces from developers and publishers
-Video showing home functionality
-Still looks like Second Life + Xbox Live to me…
-Game-specific spaces are themed areas related to a certain game
-Full length movies and shows through PSN
-Available in both rental and buy, SD or HD
-$1.99 per TV episode, $9.99-$14.99 movie purchases
-Same price as a disc-based release? Stupid!
-If downloaded on PS3, can be played on PSP
-Live demo of store
-This is unbearably boring to watch, just tell us it works on move on!
-seriously, PAINFUL
-Cloverfield $14.99 for SD purchase. HAH! Good luck selling that.
-Service will be available tonight…actually pretty impressive
-New titles each week
PSP
-PSP Slim caused sales to jump a lot
-13 million sold in North America, 35 million worldwide
-New PSP pack coming along with Madden Pack. Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters pack, 1 Gig stick, PSN Voucher for Echochrome, National Treasure 2 on UMD for $199.99
Resistance Retribution
-Battle for Europe
-Looks very nice graphically
-Explores the mystery of the Chimera a bit deeper
-3rd person action title
-Looks like Gears of War a bit
-Out in Spring 2009
PSP video montage
-Loco Roco 2, Patapon 2 (eff off, Fever Mode), Star Wars Force Unleashed, Madden 2009, NBA 09: The Inside, Super Stardust Portable, Lego Batman, Buzz Quiz Master, Valkyria Chronicles
PlayStation 3
-Google a partner with PS3
-Dedicated PS3 channel on YouTube
-Life With Playstion…news, weather, etc.
DC Universe Online
-Jim Lee out to demo the game
-3 years in development
-Create a character, help heroes or villains in classic situations
-Woah, characters models look great for the heroes
-Looks good, but the combat looks a little jittery (typical of MMOs)
-MMOs aren’t my thing, but this could be big
-80GB PS3 will be launced with same functionality of 40GB (read: No BC support) for $399.99
-Video montage of developer/publisher testimonials about PS3 and Blu-ray
-Most of them sound like they’re finally happy the PS3 architecture
-Happy about built-in hard drive
-Happy about storage space with Blu-ray
-Yadda, yadda, yadda
PS3 video montage
-Little Big Planet, Motorstorm: Pacific Drift, MGS 4, QUantum of Solace, SOCOM: Confrontation, Ghostbusters, Soul Calibur IV, Resistance 2, the Agency, Naruto: Storm, Mirror’s Edge, Resident Evil 5, Singstar, Guitar Hero: World Tour, NBA 09: The Inside, Buzz: Quiz TV, Killzone 2, Fallout 3
God of War III
-PS3 release (duh)
-Trailer shows pre-rendered stuff, no gameplay
inFamous
-Save or destroy entire city
-Be a hero or anti-hero
-Looks like a much better Crackdown
-Spring 2009
MAG: Massive Action Game
-Huge online battles
-Supports battles of 256 players
-Only real players in the game
-Players will be broken into squads
-Character growth provide long-term goals
-Ongoing campaigns, even when you’re not playing (like Chromehounds)
-Despite the scale, it looks graphically strong
-Vehicles, soldiers are everywhere
-Tough to tell if this is all real-time footage seems to be a mix of real and pre-rendered
-Reinforcements air dropped as trailer closes out
-Squads are 8 players each
That’s the show! A better showing than we got from Nintendo, and arguably better than Microsoft as well. Check for reaction on the blog via our nightly podcasts.
At E3 2006, Sony had one of the most disastrous and painful E3 press conferences ever. Sure, when Nintendo paraded Pac-Man Vs. on the stage it was bad, but they didn’t outright make idiots of themselves and give the gaming public a good 10-15 memes to use as virtual slings and arrows. Over the past year or so, however, Sony has made some strong strides toward correcting their flawed philosophy in the gaming sector. Good games are being released regularly, PR is more favorable (still a lot to work on here), and developers have (for the most part) quite bellyaching about the difficulty of getting games up and running to their full potential on the PS3 hardware. Below is a video that was compiled by the Wii60 crowd (remember them?) and was a pretty popular video for months leading up to the PS3 release.
Sony has taken its lumps, and hopefully, the days of giant enemy crabs are fully behind us.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was one of my favorite games from the past generation, but its two sequels were less than stellar. So when screens and details started showing up for the upcoming PoP game, I was quite pleased with what I saw. Some new screens have been released on the game, and they’re gorgeous. Geoff Keighly posted a message on NeoGAF earlier today to let everybody know that Monday night they’ll be doing a a video preview on G4. Of course, to see that, you’ll have to watch G4. It’s up to you guys if you want to take that risk. Check out some of the new screens below.
Looking good, huh? We’ll know a lot more about the game come Monday, so keep your eyes and ear open as E3 news is just around the corner.
E3 is almost here, and all of us that think we’re in the know are telling all you what to expect. Most of the time we’re about 50/50 on our predictions, so that makes us a bit better than the majority of EPSN’s expert panel and their pro sports picks. Anyway, I’ve already done my Microsoft E3 predictions, so now it’s time for me to do the same for Sony.
There’s No Place Like Home - After all this time and all the demos, I think it’s finally time for Home to get solid release dates, final specifications, and some clear direction. I won’t be surprised if it’s slightly scaled back from what we saw at its original blowout at GDC, but it should still be a might impressive landscape to mess around in. I’m sure Sony will also discuss how 3rd parties and advertisers have shown huge excitement from Home and are actively working with Sony to make it the place to be.
Sequels! - Sony is all about sequels. Well, to be fair, most companies are, but Sony elevates it a higher level. The PS2 saw about 40 Ratchet games, 15 Sly Coopers, and 29 Jak releases. Not to curb a successful formula, Sony will have some sequels we know about (Killzone 2, Resistance 2, Grand Turismo 5, Final Fantasy XIII, etc.) to show more of, but they’ll also have several new ones for us (a new Ratchet & Clank, God of War 3, WipEout, and more). Unlike the film industry, usually game sequels improve upon the previous release, so let’s hope that trend continues, because Sony is going to have a lot of them.
Community - Sony has always been super weak on the community side of things. Microsoft has a great thing going with Live, but Sony is ready to leapfrog them in that regard with Home, Little Big Planet, and a few other tricks they have in the making. Bringing cross-game voice chat to the PS3 down the line will help, as will their recently released in-game XMB features. Sony will try to convince gamers that they can get as much on the PS3 as they can on the 360 when it comes to community and interaction.
Momentum - Sony’s spin will focus on how they’re closing the gap with AAA releases, getting a huge sales boost in Japan with the PSP, and that they have X number of developers actively working on games. Sony is going to try to dispel the notion that they’ve been relegated to 3rd place in this generation and that they’re primed to make a run for market leadership. And hey, with a strong holiday lineup, why shouldn’t they feel confident? Sadly, a price drop will not happen any time soon, it’s just not financially possible for Sony this year to go any lower than what they’re at. Bundles are more likely than price drops, so they may push that in their attempt to paint the PS3 as a good value.
Sony has a chance to really dazzle both fans and naysayers come Tuesday. With huge projects like Home and Little Big Planet on the horizon, Sony has a lot going on. Games like Afika, inFamous, and their whole slew of sequels should have everybody antsy for the holidays. I personally would like to see some committment to improving the dismal state of the PSP’s library, but i’m not holding my breath. This year, however, I think much of Sony’s conference will be impressive, and not just full of gimmicky smoke and mirrors.
Summer is usually a time when a whole bunch of stinkers get released with the occassional gem mixed in. Obviously Metal Gear Solid 4 was nothing less than spectacular, but EA’s Battlefield: Bad Company is another title worth checking out during the summer release schedule lull. I haven’t been able to spend a ton of time with the game yet, but my early impressions have been very positive.
The game on some level does feel like “just another war shooter”, but its mix of humor and dialog elevate it to a more enjoyable and varied experience. Also, mission objectives change up quite a bit, so even within levels things are constantly being thrown at you that are aren’t fully expecting.
The health system is unique, and I think they handle it better than what we’ve seen with the automatic regeneration system found in games like Halo or Call of Duty. In Bad Company, you can heal yourself with an item, but after each healing you have to wait a bit for it to recharge. This still encourages the duck for cover and heal scenario, but it’s less pronounced.
The guns in the game are nice, but nothing truly spectacular. They do, however, sound and feel like you’d want them to. The larger weapons can blow holes through walls, which I’ve found a much easier way to flush enemies out of a building than inching through halls and checking around corners.
I haven’t played enough to make a final judgment on the game, but I’m impressed so far and am looking forward to the rest of the experience.
Many of you already picked Metal Gear Solid 4 up at midnight, but since I was rolling in from a concert a little past midnight, I didn’t really have it in me to go out and grab my copy. Anyway, for the less ambitious, today is the day that we’ll be dropping by stores at lunch or during the commute home. To commemorate Solid Snake’s last stand (at least, they’re telling us that it is), I’ve decided to pull together some resources that other sites have been posting and lump them together for your convenience. I don’t typically make you guys deal with a jump, but this time it’s pretty necessary. So, see you on the other side!
Today’s Penny Arcade comic deals with Metal Gear Solid 4. As a big fan of the franchise, I’ve been very impatiently waiting for the game to come out this week, but I’ve had these little nagging doubts about the game for some reason. I don’t know, maybe it’s just pre-release jitters (how nerdy is that?!), but Penny Arcade’s newest comic isn’t helping.
Mega Man 9 boss order
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