Becuase I’m late and it’s the holiday, I’m gonna break you off with two 20 dollar GOTWs this week. So happy 4th of July everyone!

For all of you whining about original IPs dying out, here ya go. An original IP from the creators of the phenominal Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic. Jade Empire is a nice take on the old RPG conventions. It’s set in a mythical land not unlike Ancient China, and you take the role of one of several customizable characters, each with thier own abilities and attributes as you try to find out the secret behind your past. You’ll gain several abilities throughout the course of the game, such as magic, weapons, and th eability to change your form. Just like in KOTOR, you can choose to be a good guy or a bad guy, but soon, the choices won’t be that easy. You can also enlist the help of several followers who will add thier own might and muscle to yours. The combat system is thankfully all real time, with the ability to preform basic strikes, power attacks, blocks, dodges, and even combos.
I can’t understand for the life of me why this game didn’t take off as well as it should have, but it’s still solid. I found a copy of the limited edition at gamestop for 12 dollars! This is an excellent game for RPG fans looking for a break from the same old conventions. WIth Bioware exclusive to Microsoft, this game is a sign of things to come, particularly thier upcomming 360 sci-fi RPG Mass Effect.

First4Figures has announced that they are nearly done producing a 12 inch replica of the BFG from DOOM. The replica has been improved since the first prototype was revealed and will now feature three moving parts. It will be retailing for approximately US$79.99

Sure Hollywood. Bio Force Gun. We know what it really stands for.

He’s become an increasingly popular cameo in first-party Nintendo games, but what the Hell is R.O.B.? How does it work? Have you ever played Gyromite without cheating?

Questions? Refer to the Wikipedia page for which I claim total responsibility.

Today we saw the first Blu-Ray discs hit store shelves. On a trip to Best Buy I saw a number of them for sale at prices that weren’t totally unreasonable. The boxes looked cool which is pretty much all anyone would be able to tell you right now. Poked around looking for the players… which were nowhere to be found. I don’t think there are any in Canada. Why are we selling unplayable discs again?

Sony and Pioneer, the major supporters of Blu-Ray technology, have decided to postpone releasing their players. Sony’s Blu-Ray player is currently slated to be sold on October 25th 2006 according to their BDP-S1 product page. I wouldn’t be surprised if that date was pushed back again by the way things are going for them. Pioneer has also delayed the release of their BDP-HD1 player until September according to this article though no date could be uncovered on Pioneer’s website by this reporter. Having the 2 major supporters delay their own players within weeks of the pending release is not the best way to support a format consumers are already apprehensive to get on board with.

Samsung’s BD-P1000 is now available and retails for a shocking 1000$ US. With Pioneer’s player currently slated to sell for an astronomical price of 1500$ US and coming out only a month before the already expensive 600$ PlayStation 3 not to mention 2 months after Samsung’s 1000$ player the logic in this move is not obvious. Sony’s player will be selling at 1000$ and will be released, assuming all products follow their current release schedule, at the same time as the 600$ Blu-Ray compatible PlayStation 3. Why would anyone with an ounce of sense invest in their bare bones player? If we are to believe that this player will be in any way superior to a game system by the same company wouldn’t that just give people another reason not to invest in what is already considered by most to be a far too expensive game system?

I guess these guys just won’t be happy unless Blu-Ray really does go the way of Beta as everyone seems to be worried about.

After all this is said and done HD-DVD players have been available for over 2 months now and are selling at half the price of the competition at a mere 500$. This can be considered cheap only in the same way that the X-Box 360 is considered cheap when it’s price is compared to the price of the PlayStation 3. Of course people aren’t buying either player. I know I for one would get on board with this kind of technology if there were only one available but I just can’t afford to take a risk at such a price point and I think most HDTV owners share this sentiment. I’m fearfull that with everyone waiting there will be no clear winner in the format wars and that both will die leaving us with sub par 480p DVDs. It already happened with laser disc and there wasn’t even any competition for them.

Is there something these guys aren’t telling us? Is this all an elaborate ploy to avoid selling players at a loss while making fat cash off disc sales? Don’t they realise this makes everyone uncertain about the future of this technology? That when they can’t even put 100% behind their product no right minded consumer is going to be able to?

Maybe they’re just not trying anymore or maybe Sony’s trying to make sure the PS3 isn’t their worst mistake of 2006. That will be a tough one to top.

In the world of 3-D fighting, three franchises come to mind: Virtua Fighter, Tekken, and Soul Calibur. The first game pioneered the genre, the third introduced complex weapon-based fighting to the tried and true conventions. Tekken may not have had the impact on the genre that the other two did, but it still deserves to be mentioned in the same breath. After 4 solid entries (including Tag Tournament), the series took a step back with Tekken 4, when a frustrating wall fighting system and the attempted insertion of more Soul Calibur-like foot movement turned many players off. Last year, with Tekken 5, Namco revitalized the franchise in a major way. A handful of new characters were added to the Tekken mythos, and the moveset of every returning character recieved a major overhaul. Speaking of returning characters, nearly every character from the past Tekken games shows up. The graphics are some of the best seen on Playstation 2, and there are lots of extras in the game. As an added bonus, the arcade versions of Tekken 1, 2, and 3 have been included for players who want to see how far the series has come.

Game Trailers has posted a video in their Top 10 series detailing Top 10 Video Game Weapons, and its hard to argue with the results.
Although, I’m disappointed how many FPS games there are on the list. Doom’s chainsaw defines the game, and Half Life 2’s Gravity Gun innovates beyond anything else on the list, but did we really need anything from Turok on there? Still, covering Metroid’s Ice beam and Mario Kart’s red shell makes the list a pretty well balanced one, if not for the oddball #10.

Guest reviewer Ryu gives us a unique perspective on the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection and Street Fighter Alpha Anthology games for the PlayStation 2. Also includes a look at the Official Street Fighter Anniversary Edition Controller.

Before Grand Theft Auto became their major cash cow, Rockstar gave players another action franchise early on in the current console generation. At the time it first came out, Max Payne stood out from other games of it’s type with 2 major innovations; Matrix-like bullet time and a film noir plotline. The former slowed everything to a crawl in order to give players a bit of strategy in planning out their next move while the latter used graphic novel-styled cinema sequences to move the story along.

2 years and dozens of copycats later, Rockstar released a sequel. It didn’t push the boundaries as the first game did, but it gave gamers more of what they loved about the original Max Payne. The bullet time was improved slightly, and the plot was just as riveting as the first. It’s only bad point is it’s short length. The game can be completed in a weekend. Luckily for PC gamers, tons of downloadable content extend this game’s replay value a lot. Hopefully Rockstar will give us a sequel that will be a bit bigger. Until then, action game fans looking for a good plotline can’t go wrong here.