Sony has offered no comment on the video at this time. Those that wish to visit the site can do so here.

Sega's beautiful action-strategy-rpg Valkyria Chronicles released today, so if you're keen on experiencing a unique game that bends an established genre and blends another, now's the time to pick it up. If you're further interested, two bits of DLC have already been confirmed for US release in early 2009. One allows you to play as a side character called Edie, and the other allows you to take on the role of the game's antagonists. If Japanese prices are anything to consider, you can expect them to run $5-10 a piece. You can also expect them to be fully voice acted.

There's been no word of Team Ico's next project for the Playstation 3 for the longest while. However, Sony Worldwide Studios Head, Shuhei Yoshida recently spoke with VG247 by stating that they have been "working very hard since the release of Shadow of the Colossus."

Aside from the screenshot above, no other details are available for this highly anticipated title. In response to the lack of public information surrounding this game, Yoshida is quoted as saying, "Soon you'll see."

Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D is one of the handful of major studio games now available for the iPhone (or iPod Touch) through the newly released App Store. It's a decent time waster, sure, which is what you'd expect from a cell phone game, but given the power of the iPhone and the hefty $9.99 price tag, this game is a waste of time and opportunity. I would wait a bit longer for more impressive, and better controlling games to come around.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

A pocket review for a pocket game:

Nitro Kart 3D is a rather quick port of "Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart" for the Xbox, PS2, GameCube, and N-Gage. Like the other kart game on the iPhone (Cro-Mag Rally), controlls are stripped down to the bare essentials. Acceleration is automatic, or rather, perpetual, and all the player must do is steer by tilting the phone side to side.

The control can be frustrating and take quite a while to get used to. Not being in control of acceleration feels a bit strange as well, like being the passenger in a car and leaning over to take over the wheel. I don't think developers have gotten a handle on the iPhone's accelerometer yet, and so using it will feel a bit flimsy until the programmers have it hammered down.

Controlling the karts always felt sloppy to me, but it can be managed by adjusting the sensitivity. Game modes available include standard "Cup" mode, a pretty simple Story mode, and Time Trials. There is no multiplayer.

This is one of the very first 3D games for the iPhone, so it's hard to gauge the graphics, but from what I've seen of other games they're already a tad sub-par. Textures in the distance appear to manifest before your eyes, and there is a very annoying attempt at a lens flare effect that has watered down to nothing but an indistinct series of blobs that do nothing but block your view.

Again, for the money, you should expect more. This may be one of the best 3D iPhone games, but that's not saying much. Treat this game like a launch title and keep your distance until the real games show up.

Kotaku has reported that Sony Japan has updated their employment page with several job postings and an image that is possibly associated with their next Team Ico project. Team ICO Gamers has declared this imagery to be the very first screenshot of Ico 3.

Those that wish to visit the site can do so here.

NIS America recently published a slew of new screenshots for its Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia, including a new (character) trailer, which you can view below. The game is an RPG developed by Gust (Atelier Iris, Atelier Iris 2) for the PlayStation 2 and is currently slated for release on February 6. Enjoy.

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]]> Wed, 03 Jan 2007 00:24:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_total_overdose_a_gunslingers_tale_in_mexico_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_total_overdose_a_gunslingers_tale_in_mexico_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_total_overdose_a_gunslingers_tale_in_mexico_ps2# This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Brian Mohr.

Total Overdose: A Gunslinger’s Tale in Mexico is a combination of Grand Theft Auto mixed with Max Payne and recent popular movies as you shoot your way through the drug underworld of Mexico. The elements in the game aren’t new by any means as you have slowdown (bullet-time), open-ended environments and rewind amongst other things.

The story puts you in the role of Ramiro Cruz, the twin criminal brother of an injured DEA agent who is chasing down drug dealers and corrupt agents that murdered their father. The plot really is not important to the game as you predominately shoot-up everything in site wherever you go.

Definitely the best aspect of the game is the gun battles and variety of weapons. The actual shooting controls are easy and intuitive; even pulling off complex jumps and flips are simple with the touch of a couple buttons. You’ll have a choice of pistols, rocket launchers, grenades, automatic weapons, shotguns, grenade launchers and plenty more. Subsequently each weapon varies in its effectiveness. Starting out, the weapons don’t provide players with enough ammo, especially considering this is a shooting game through and through, but as the game goes on you can upgrade to get more ammo.

Along with the weapons is a variety of moves that you can do in bullet-time including lunges in every direction, wall flips, and more. Head shots are fairly easy to pull off and as you move through the game players can accumulate special or loco moves. These are fun and as the name suggests crazy because they take out all the enemies in sight and certainly fit the style of Total Overdose. Some moves include El Toro which has you run like a bull at enemies while another is El Mariachi which has you wielding two guitar cases with automatic weapons shooting round after round at your enemies. Another, and perhaps the craziest of them all, is Pinata Boom-Boom which has you throwing a piñata that is essentially a grenade and then all the enemies gather around it and it blows them to pieces. Though the moves are fun and somewhat exhilarating, you can pull off loco moves whenever you want and they do make the game way too easy especially in relation to boss fights which are over in a matter of seconds.

Like many of the other games in the genre, Total Overdose features an open-ended city although it’s not quite on the line of a Grand Theft Auto since you drive to the highway or walk to the subway to travel between locations and then just select where you want to go next from a list. Despite that slight drawback, the cities, cars, people and environments do aesthetically fit the overall experience. Although if you just go on a shooting rampage it’s highly unlikely that cops will show up. What does that tell you about Mexican law?

One other nice feature in the game is the side missions and attainable points to gain more skills. The side quests are simple and they include missions like kill certain people or blow up a burrito stand while other side missions are out there for you to accumulate points in which you have to go hunting on buildings or slide down zip lines to gather points. As for the actual missions, they do feature a variety of sections and a good amount of save points.

Finally, the sound effects and voice acting are decent in the game. The voices won’t win any awards, but fulfill the need and that’s I guess all you can ask for. The real problem with the voice acting is not the actual voices, but more what they say which is pretty stereotypical and even offensive. The sound effects on the other hand are solid with explosions, gun firing and more. The best thing in the audio though is the music which fits the style and edge of the game wonderfully. Eidos recruited rap-metal group Molotov and Delinquent Habits whose styles fit very well with the game. Besides that, gun battles will also have mariachi and other Mexican music playing in the background that keeps the game fun and exciting.

There are many problems with Total Overdose including the graphics, repetition, vehicle controls and linear storyline. Although everything works together on-screen, the graphics are not very impressive as characters are blocky and not very detailed. A problem that goes along with graphics is that characters don’t move realistically either and there are lots of glitches in the game including enemies getting stuck in cars or just stopping what they are doing altogether.

Total Overdose also is way too repetitive - the game is short and the enemy A.I. is terrible. Going through the game, all you’re doing is lunging with bullet-time and shooting up enemies and while it is fun for a bit, it becomes the same old thing over and over as time goes on. Besides that, the game shouldn’t take any more than 10 hours to get through. Finally, the enemy A.I. is bad as enemies rarely kill and even if they do you have rewind to fix the problem.

The shooting controls in the game are surprisingly good, but the vehicle controls are awful. The cars handle terribly and the physics for all of them are the same. You’ll find yourself mostly using the cars as just a way to get from point A to point B instead of another fun element in the game. There are jumps throughout the game, but because the driving controls are so miserable I wouldn’t even want to attempt it.

Finally, one last problem for the game is that unlike in Grand Theft Auto, where you have multiple missions to choose from, you can just do one at a time in Total Overdose. This linear experience certainly kills any excitement in the game. The only thing you can do besides each mission is the side quests which have nothing to do with the story.

Total Overdose: A Gunslinger’s Tale in Mexico obviously took elements from other popular games and movies including Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, The Matrix and Desperado amongst others. The game’s audio, variety of weapons and moves keeps you interested for a while, but the game isn’t that long and is very repetitive, which certainly kills any buzz you originally had. Overall, Total Overdose is an average shooter with interesting elements, but no matter who you are it isn’t worth the full retail price.

The loco moves and action is fun, but it gets repetitive quickly. The driving is very poor.

The graphics won’t blow you away and the cut-scenes are alright, but overall it's just average.

The sound effects and voice acting are solid. The music is impressive and fits perfectly.

The moves you pull off certainly make the game fun, but it does get repetitive after a while.

There are side missions, but Overdose is pretty short with less than 10 hours of gameplay.

]]> Mon, 31 Oct 2005 11:17:00 -0600