Unless you want to shell out an extra $10 for the PSP version, this is a good deal. It’s the same thing as the PSP game which was released a few months ago after all. Like Liberty City Stories before it, this game is a spin off which doesn’t add a whole lot that we haven’t seen in any of the past entries. Graphical and control problems almost make this a step below them. The larger screen size makes the graphical problems more apparent than they were on the PSP, while the targeting system is one of the most problematic seen in the series so far.

However, the real draw of this game is the story, atmosphere, and of course the violence. Taking place 3 years before Vice City, the game follows the ill-fated Vic Vance as he is forced to leave the army after being betrayed by his commanding officer. From then, he gets caught up in a world of drug dealers, kingpins, and other seedy figures. The story takes a darker tone than other entries with it’s casts of racists, woman-abusers, drug addicts, and people who are just jerks in general. However GTA’s trademark humor is still in place, largely in part due to the radio stations that play a selection of classic tunes from the 1980s. The empire building makes a return, as you can take over gang-owned businesses and complete assets for them to increase the money they make.

Even though it’s badly in need of a shot in the arm, GTA:VCS is still an excellent game. It might not be revolutionary of groundbreaking as it’s predecessors, but it’s a fun way to pass the time until GTA IV hits this fall.

The Tubes have been abuzz the past few days with rumors that Blizzard Entertainment will announce a sequel to their smash hit strategy game, Starcraft.

The initial rumor, here, indicates that Blizzard will make an announcement on May 19th at the World Wide Invitational that will supposedly reveal that Starcraft 2 is currently under development. Accompanied with this would be some rough videos of the progress so far.

According to this link, Blizzard has responded with the following statement:

We do intend to announce a new product at the Worldwide Invitational next month in Korea, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and interest in getting an advance look at what that will be, but players will have to wait until May 19th to find out more. Also, we have a very strong connection with the characters and settings of StarCraft, and we do plan to revisit that universe at some point in the future, but we don’t have anything new to announce in that regard at present.

I’m not convinced that the announcement will be something other than Starcraft 2, but there is a high chance it will be Diablo 3 instead.

Long before merging with Squaresoft, Enix released this launch window SNES title which bought together Castlevania-caliber action and Sim-City style level building. Playing as “The master” (or God, as he was known in the Japanese release) you awaken from a sleep of hundreds of years to take down “The Evil One” (or Satan, as he was called in Japan). First however, you have to restore your powers by restoring the people’s faith in you by helping re-develop their land in simulation-style segments and by destroying the Evil One’s minions via side scrolling action segments. By preforming certain tasks during the simulation levels, the Master will unlock new powers and magic. For those who didn’t care much for the simulation levels, a hidden professional mode was available which featured a high difficulty and maxed out attributes for the main character. A sequel was released a few years later which left out the simulation levels altogether, although it was still every bit as enjoyable as the first. Actraiser has already been re-released on the Japanese and European Virtual Console, so I have no doubt that it will be arriving here shortly.

A little trivia on this game: Although the game was heavy on Judeo-Christian themes, Nintendo of America policy strictly forbade content which could remotely be deemed offensive (i.e. gore and religious themes). This same policy caused the spells ‘holy’ and ‘death’ from the American SNES versions of Final Fantasy 4 and 6 to be renamed ‘pearl’ and ‘doom’.

ID is to first person shooters what Capcom and SNK are to fighting games. Not only have they practically invented the genre, their games have introduced several conventions that we take for granted today. Doom, Wolfenstein 3-d, and Quake were the top three shooter franchises for the company. While Quake didn’t have the impact on the genre that the other two games had, it still became a favorite among players, due to the fact that it’s open source code made it able to produce modifications and conversions for the game. Also, it was one of the first games to include multiplayer over the internet, and full 3-d movement. It was followed up by a sequel that eschewed the first game’s gothic textures for a more sci-fi plot, and again by a sequel that focused strictly on multiplayer combat. After reviving Doom 3 and Wolfenstein 3-d, ID dicided to bring back Quake as well, just in time for the next generation of console systems.
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As the 360’s Spring Update and the Halo 3 Beta come closer and closer, Microsoft dropped a rather big surprise on us today! A rather large and unexpected list of newly added backwards compatible Xbox titles for the 360! Namely Sega’s Jet Set Radio Future, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Star Wars Rupublic Commando and some very high profile 2D fighters have been added to the list. This is probably one of the strongest updates released and should please anyone still interested in the service.

Read on for the full list.
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Sega and Marvel just set up a multi-year partnership to make babies video games based on the Hulk, Thor, and Captain America. The press release says we should expect these games for “console, handheld and PC platforms,” though no timetable was mentioned, other than loosely being set to come out around when the corresponding movies do. (Cap and Thor are currently planned for ’09, with Incredible Hulk for ’08.)

The agreement got set up after Marvel decided they were pleased with Sega’s early development work on the upcoming Iron Man game – not the surest way to gauge a game’s success, but here’s hoping it works out for them. After all, no one wants to smite some bad guys with Mighty Mjolnir more than I do. And if we’re really lucky, maybe they’ll even take a few notes from Hulk’s most recent run in the video game world.

The first issue of the ongoing comic book based on the Halo universe is coming in July. Marvel.com has a page up previewing the story and this image, which may be the first cover.

The Eisner Award-winning team of superscribe Brian Michael Bendis and artist extraordinaire Alex Maleev unleash an epic story of mankind’s struggle against the alien threat of the Covenant. Picking up from the conclusion of blockbuster video game Halo 2, the must-read issue reveals how the Master Chief, while onboard a hostile ship headed towards Earth, is battling against Covenant forces! Intertwined with Master Chief’s interstellar one-man-war is the saga of a great American city’s rebellion and downfall, two disparate lives’ collision and shared fate, and the Convenant’s hunt for an ancient relic of untold power and value. With hope dwindling and the fate of humanity hanging by a thread, is there any chance for a future? Read this debut issue to start the journey into the Halo universe!

All this can be yours for only $3.99! Seriously, it’ll be nice to get some more story in before Halo 3 launches, though with any expanded universe stuff, I doubt too much of it will effect the game itself. Theres been lots of Spartan action all over the books and in the graphic novel last year, but Chief is still the only one in the game. Still, with Bendis on board they’re not exactly turning this over to a fanfic writer, so we may get some good stories.

IESB reports that the Disney movie based on the very popular series The Prince Of Persia has a director and a release date: Michael Bay, Summer 2009.

Before the comments below are flooded with cracks about game movies, (or Michael Bay movies), consider this: Jerry Bruckheimer is producing the film, and after 3 gigantic Pirates Of The Carribean movies for Disney, they’re both looking for something that can be that kind of a hit. After all, theres a lot more to work with here for characters, plots, and concepts than Pirates, which was merely a ride. I’ve been on that ride. Its a slow boat passing animatronic pirates. Its nothing special. Sands Of Time is one of the most exciting action games of the last console generation. Loads of potential there.