Fan made movie Metal Gear Solid: Philantrophy has been released

Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy is a 2009 non-profit Fan made movie created by Hive Division, a team of Italian students and filmmakers. It is a film based on the highly successful Metal Gear line of games. It is written, directed, edited and stars Giacomo Talamini, a 27 year old Italian student filmmaker.

Wikipedia sums it all up pretty nicely. I first found out about this fan-made movie 2 years ago, when I watched the first (or second) trailer. Holy Shit at this effort. I really admire the dedication of everyone that contributed in order to make this film. I’ll be posting my review sometime this week. Meanwhile, check out everything about the movie here.

09-09-09 in Gaming

Wow, 09-09-09 looks like a pretty special date. Might as well write about the things that I think make this day special for gamers like me.

10 years of Squall and Rinoa

• The tenth anniversary of Final Fantasy VIII. Say what you will about the crappy melodramatic story but in all other aspects of the console RPG, FF VIII was a groundbreaking achievement. It is one of my favorite RPGs of all time and quite possibly my favorite final fantasy game ever.

The Sega Dreamcast is now 10 years old!

• The tenth anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast. The DC is one of the greatest consoles ever. It had the best graphics for a home console during the time of its release, pioneered console online gaming, and had one of the greatest game libraries ever including classics like Shenmue, Soul Calibur, Skies Of Arcadia, Sonic Adventure, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Phantasy Star Online, and a lot of other cool games.

• The Release of The Beatles: Rock Band. The greatest band ever finally get their own game.  The Beatles: Rock Band is one of the most spot on, and one of the greatest game concepts ever. A game where you and your friends become a rock band by playing instruments? How does playing Beatles songs sound? Freakin’ appropriate. Also, today is the official launch of the ENTIRE Beatles discography (that means all of their albums and more) digitally remastered. Awesome.

The first 3 PS3 games I’ll buy once I get a PS3

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots

This is the main reason why I’m gunning for a PS3. I am a BIG MGS fan and I’ve read/watched/heard nothing but great things about this game. Hell, I’ll still be getting it even if people called it a steaming pile of monkey crap. It’s the end of the Solid Snake Story and I want to witness it for myself. If I could only play one more game before I die, then this would definitely be it. It’s Stealth Action at its finest.

Metacritic rating: 94

2 Batman Arkham Asylum

Batman is my favorite comic book hero/character. The fact that Batman doesn’t have actual super powers makes him even more awesome. As for the game, IGN calls it the best comic book game of all time. Based on the trailers and and gameplay vids I’ve seen on youtube, I definitely agree. Man, this game really makes the player feel like Batman. The story is really interesting, with the Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy and other Batman villains taking over Arkham Asylym and causing chaos all over Gotham City. It’s Batman’s longest night on the job and he needs to restore order to Gotham like he has done so many times before. An action-adventure game with lots of stealth elements and Metal Gear Solid influences? A definite purchase for me.

Metacritic rating: 90

3. Little Big Planet

Play. Create. Share. Awesome. Little Big Planet is a revolutionary platformer that allows users to create all kinds of levels and share it to the world via the Playstation Network. The game’s graphics is beautiful and gives creative players the tools to create all kinds of levels that they envision. I’d like to try my hand in this thing since I have all sorts of ideas for levels. The game also has a single player story mode that holds its own very well.

Metacritic rating: 95

Awesome new PS3 Ads

Saw a couple of new ads for the PS3 Slim and the new price of $299. Thought I’d share it to anyone who hasn’t seen it. These ads are pretty funny and may just convince more people to pick up a PS3. After all, it only does everything.

New MGS:Peace Walker trailer

A new Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker trailer was shown by Konami during yesterday’s gamescom (formerly, Games Convention), and all I can say is Holy sh*t. The trailer is epic, and very impressive. At 9 minutes long, a lot of gameplay is shown and this has revealed new gameplay elements, modes, and basically how fans can expect to play the game when it releases this march (I can’t wait to play it).

You can watch the trailer below:

Here are my comments/analysis of the trailer:

1. The graphics are exceptional considering that this is being made for the PSP.
2. Based on what is shown, the environments are much more distinguished and has better designs than those in Metal Gear Solid: Portable OPs.
3. It is confirmed that the game will be played in co-op (which supports up to 4 players), a first in the MGS series.
4. A “co-op ring” similar to the threat ring in MGS 4 is used to coordinate between players and to determine whether a player can perform co-op moves like sneaking and fighting together, hiding in boxes, giving/using items, and even reviving an unconscious comrade.
5. Hideo Kojima’s involvement in this game is really evident. Even at this early stage, it looks better than Metal Gear Solid: Portable OPs.
6. That flying thing in the end looks too futuristic for 1974 though.

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Hello there PS3 Slim

Yesterday, Sony officially revealed the much rumoured PS3 slim. The PS3 slim is 32% smaller, 36% lighter, has 34% less power consumption, and will be available in stores from the first week of September for $299 dollars, €299 euros £249 UK pounds, and ¥29,980 yen.

Here’s the official Specs:

Product Code: CECH-2000 (Charcoal Black)
CPU: Cell Broadband Engine
GPU: RSX
Audio output: 7.1CH LPCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD, AAC.
Memory: 256MB XDR Main RAM, 256MB GDDR3 VRAM
Hard Drive: 120GB Serial ATA
Inputs / outputs:
Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0): 2
Network: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 1, IEEE 802.11 b / g, Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
Controller: Wireless controller (Bluetooth)
AV output HDMI OUT Connection: 1
AV output AV MULTI OUT connector: 1
AV output Digital out (optical) Connection: 1
BD / DVD / CD drive (read only) Maximum read rate: BD × 2 (BD-ROM), DVD × 8 (DVD-ROM), CD × 24 (CD-ROM)
Power Consumption: Approx 250W
Dimensions: approx 290 × 65 × 290 mm (width × height × length)
Weight: approx 3.2kg

Also, ALL versions of the old PS3 systems on sale will have 100 dollar price cuts! This is big news especially for people like me who have yet to buy a playstation 3.

As for the PS3 slim, I don’t think that the design is better since the shiny chrome finish of the old PS3 is gone. However, all of the other changes like the system being smaller, lighter, consuming less power, having a 120-gig hard drive, and the price ($ 299) are all very, very good moves by Sony.

Finally, Here’s a blowout of pictures of the new PS3 Slim!

Hammering Hero!

I haven’t had the time to play a lot of games these past few weeks but whenever I find time, I play this quirky little PSP platformer entitled Hammerin’ Hero.

The game’s pretty cool, a lot of different jobs give Gen (the playable character) different skills from being a carpenter with a (wait for it…) hammer, to a chef that has a large fish to hit enemies with. There’s also lots of stuff to collect and unlock. The story’s interesting enough and the localization is very good.One downside though is that the game can be very hard at times. However, it has several difficulty levels that will still keep it accessible to all types of players. The graphics are above average and the animations are pretty good.

So yeah, go play it if you have time.

Meet my Rock Band Unplugged Band: The MetalGearSolids!

Rock Band Unplugged was released on the PSP last month and PSP gamers/rockers everywhere rejoiced. The main feature of the game was of course, to create your own 4-piece rock band and go on tour and rock the world like no rock band has rocked before. Being a Metal Gear junkie, I had this idea to create a band with Metal Gear/Metal Gear Solid Characters. Sure, there were limitations in terms of physical appearance and accessories, still, I think I’ve come up with Rock Band: Unplugged characters that have the closest possible resemblance with their Metal Gear counterparts. It took some time but now, I can present to you guys, The MetalGearSolids!

Band Line-up:

Solid Snake – Vocals

Snake is the main character of the MGS series so it’s only fitting that he’s the singer. I think this character has the closest resemblance to his MGS counterpart. If only there was the option to add facial hair, then this guy would have really looked like Snake. Also, this version of Snake was modeled after the young Snake from MGS1.

Otacon – Drums

Otacon on drums! Drummers resemble gear heads if you ask me. I modeled this character after my MGS 2 Otacon action figure. It was a bit hard to match the colors and this Otacon doesn’t have glasses but this was the closest I could come up with.

Raiden – Guitars

Raiden, in his cyborg Ninja form from MGS4, which in my opinion, looks pretty fucking cool. I used an armor resembling his upper body plates and jeans which have “exoskeleton” in its description. I know this Raiden isn’t really a replica of his in-game model but then again, given the limitations, this is as close to Raiden as Rock Band is ever going to get (Unless Konami and Activision collaborate and produce Rock Band: Metal Gear). Also, check out Raiden’s guitar on the final picture, it’s called The Lightning.

Big Boss – Bass

Big Boss on Bass? Oh yes. I modeled  Big Boss after the image/art drawn by Yoji Shinkawa which was used in MGS1. An eye patch accessory and some facial hair would have made this perfect. Also, it was hard to make Big Boss look old.

Band pictures:

Comparisons:

Snake

Otacon

Raiden

Big Boss

Updates…(Yes, I’m alive)

Hey guys, contrary to what some of you may have thought, I am indeed alive. Time was really scarce this past month and I couldn’t think of a anything to blog about, hence the month long absence. Anyway, i just though I’d post an entry about most of the stuff I’ve been up to since my last post.

I saw Transformers 2

Wow, what a disappointing movie. I was expecting it to be at least as good as the first one. It turned out to be much much worse, having Shallow story (if you can even call it a story), and underdeveloped characters. Too much fighting can be boring after a while especially when you don’t have an idea about what’s going on and who’s who.I can only think of 2 good things about the movie, the score which had Linkin Park’s New Divide, and it made me realize that the 1st movie was pretty good.

The shittiest day of my life…literally

Wow, I had a pretty bad case of loose bowel movement (LBM) last weekend. I probably hit the can for about 14 times in 48 hours. Holy…shit, I’m sure glad that’s over.

Going back to watching Chuck season 2

That shitty weekend led to me watching 3 or 4 episodes of Chuck’s second season. I was surprised by how good this second season is. The episodes are funnier, the action is better, story’s better, and the episodes just do a better job of having me hooked than the 1st season did. I don’t watch a lot of TV shows but Chuck is definitely my favorite show right now. I’ve always liked nerd/geek stuff and all this action-espionage shit and chuck combines both very well. Go watch it!

Tons of Schoolwork

I’m always thinking of what school stuff I have to do next. This semester’s starting to feel really busy.

Listening to the newly found Linkin Park demo disc/song

An amazing find by lplive.net. A new Linkin Park demo disc from 1999/2000. It contains new variations of demos of songs from Hybrid Theory and the Hybrid Theory EP. PLUS, it contains a new song entitled “She Couldn’t”, one of the softest songs from Linkin Park. The demo is a very good listen especially for LP fans.

Playing Rock Band: Unplugged

I’ve almost unlocked all songs! Some songs are too fuckin hard though (chop suey just to name one) My bands have members which are Metal Gear characters! I might post pictures here soon.

The NEXT Metal Gears

I’m really, really, late with this news post since E3 was last week. Some personal issues needed to be settled but now that everything’s pretty much okay, back to some nice MGS news!

TWO new MGS games were announced last week. Metal Gear Solid: Rising for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PSP/PSP Go.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising is the new next-gen console MGS game starring MGS 2 hero, Raiden. Here’s all the info so far:

• Series tag line TACTICAL ESPIONAGE ACTION has now been replaced by LIGHTNING BOLT ACTION. As seen (and heard) in MGS4, Raiden is “the lightning” lol. The new tag line will probably be most evident in the gameplay.
• Pictures and the teaser trailer show Raiden as the cyborg Ninja first shown in MGS4.
• Hideo Kojima aka “the voice of god” will not direct the game but will serve as producer.

The other Metal Gear game, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is a sequel to Metal Gear Solid: Portable OPs and will have Big Boss as the lead character.

• The game is set in 1974, 10 years after Snake Eater and 4 years after MPO.
• Set in Costa Rica, an unknown military force invades and nation must rely on Militaires Sans Frontières, the mercenary army that will eventually give rise to Outer Heaven.
• There also seems to be an updated CQC and evacuation system along with the ability to move while crouched as seen in MGS4.
• The game will be written, produced, and directed by Hideo Kojima.

Finally, here’s the trailer. Looking forward to playing both of these games next year.