The Beatles Rock Band

We all know it’s going to be an instant hit. The trailer animation is fantastic, showing all the phases from The Beatles.

Ruse on Microsoft’s Surface

Ubisoft’s RUSE on Microsoft’s $20,000 touch-screen “Surface”. Now that’s putting it to good use.

Splinter Cell Conviction

The visual presentation is amazing. The new aditions continue to make the series fresh and exciting.

Peter Molyneux Project Natal

A glimpse at the next step in video-games evolution. Sony and Nintendo will have to step up their game.

Today I bought Wallace & Gromit Grand Adventures on Xbox Live and it’s pure fun. Go try the demo or look at the trailer, it’s worth it.

P.S: And don’t forget that Bionic Commando:Rearmed is selling for 5$ on discount.

Smash! Magazine promisses to bring gamers different content from the usual reviews and preview we’ve been customed to. The mag has some good writing, check it out.

Congratulations and good luck!

The game joins Professor Layton as he tries to solve crimes inside the mysterious Village! You’ll find plenty of  brain teasers, riddles, math and logic problems with a very well thought narrative and interesting characters.

A perfect portable game in my opinion.

Here’s the Video-Review from Gametrailers:

I’ve finished Fable 2 recently but I’ve still got a few quests left, so I might as well give a little review.

Fable 2 is the expected sequel to the first Fable (duh) game which was released on Xbox and Pc. At the time, there were high expectations (in many ways thanks to Peter Molineux’s interviews) about the game which were shrouded completely when the game was released. So is Fable 2 any better?

Well, yes. This time, expectations were managed much better, in a nutshell, Fable 2 is a very good game, it takes inspiration from Zelda, the Sims,  European middle age and the first Fable of course and manages to deliver an entertaining action-rpg game.

You follow the story of a boy (or girl) who in the beginning of the game watches his sister get killed by the game’s villain (who doesn’t appear that much, really) so having faced almost death yourself, you set out to get your revenge (or not). There’s a main storyline and a dozen sidequests and jobs you can take on your way to good or evil but don’t expect a big gray moral area like Fallout 3 or different ways to solve your quests.

Most characters in the game look the same and have the same lines but the voice acting is top notch. The environment is rich in green areas and open fields but expect to find a few repetitive dungeons or caves.

In this game, you’ll need money to improve your equipment, buy new clothes, haircuts, tattoos or furniture for your house but you won’t find any money on bandits or creatures, you’ll have to either take a job or buy shops/houses which will guarantee you a rent every 5 minutes. This makes the game a bit more interesting so you can become a real-estate tycoon.

As I mentioned, you can customize your character with different combination’s of clothes, hairstyles, tattoos or dye your hair. You can even cross-dress if that’s your wish…

You can also vaguely interact with the population around you in order to get more renown, you can use an expression wheel (which resembles the Sims) to show your middle finger or sing or show your trophies. You can also get a wife and kids.

Oh, right from the beginning of the game you’ll have a dog that follows you and helps you in battles or find hidden treasures. It’s a nice addition, you can pet him or play catch ball but… that’s it.

Through the game you’ll face different enemies, ranging from beetles to trolls, generic henchmen, pirates and the classic undead. Your character has 3 different abilities:

• strength which symbolizes your health and damage you deal with your sword, axe, etc (and your muscles)
• skill which is related to your weapons (pistol, crossbow, riffle);
• will symbolizes your magic powers.

You can upgrade your abilities with experience points left by the enemies you defeat, the more you use an ability the more experience point for that kind of ability you receive.

The interface simply is a mess, it’s a pain to use items and food, because there’s too much sub-menus and they’re usually slow.

You can also play with another person on the same console or on Xbox Live, although the other player will have to choose a generic henchman but it’s a good step in the multiplayer direction for console rpg’s.

There’s alot of tiny, excelent details in Fable 2, the game isn’t very big but it’s classic entertainment, and there’s a DLC which gives you 2 more hours of quests and new equipment.

The expansion will put the player through a series of events that lead to using a VR simulation of Alasca’s liberation from Chinese Forces and is focused in combat or stealth action. The new scenario is a breath of fresh air, with snowy and rocky areas making you forget the sandy yellow tones of the desert in Fallout 3.

The player will have to fight through the chinese soldiers and will encounter new enemies, including 2 Chimera Tanks and stealth soldiers. There’s also the possibility of commanding a small army of 4 people maximum with different classes, like infantry, missile commando, granadier or even Mr. Gutsy.

It’s a nice surprise to see the flexibility of the game engine created by Bethesda, the expansion can be played around 2/3 hours and will leave you craving for more. In the end you can expect to get new loot, including the new and powerful Gauss Gun/sniper, a T-51b armor and a chinese stealth armor.

So is it worth it? Depends how much you value your 800 MS points, the duration of the dlc is short but it’s a nice break from the sandy looks from Fallout 3 and if you favor combat there’s plenty of action.

There’s an interview with Bethesda from IGN regarding the dlc.

Btw, here’s my 2 recommendations for future expansions:

* The Radio Expansion: Fallout’s soundtrack is pretty good but the game has 40+ hours of gameplay, why not launch a dlc with one more radio station and music?

* The proper ending Expansion: One thing missing from the game is epilogue endings. Unlike previous Fallout games, you don’t experience in the end of the game, the consequences of your actions in the future. A big dissapointment but could eventually be fixed.