March 18, 2008 – 8:25 am
By: Kevin Larrabee
A little piece of me died the day that 2K Sports acquired the exclusive rights from Major League Baseball to create the only third-party MLB game. I am/was a huge fan of EA Sport’s MVP Baseball series, and their last iteration, MVP Baseball 2005, flirted with perfection. I played 2K’s MLB 2K6 and 2K7 on the Xbox 360, and both times I felt like my dog had died and my parents had tried to replace him with one of those plastic robo-dogs. Nothing felt right. I missed my MVP.
Three years after the demise of the MVP franchise, I picked up “MLB 08: The Show” for the PlayStation 3. SCEA really hit one out of the park (pun absolutely intended) with this game, finally I am actually enjoying a baseball video game. Let’s break down what makes “MLB 08: The Show” so great. Read More »
March 16, 2008 – 2:30 pm
Download Episode 5 Here: RedZoneGamerPodcast005.mp3 (Right Click and Save-As to Download)
or Subscribe through iTunes!!!
Hosts:
Kevin Larrabee and Chris Picard
On this week’s show we talk about what we have been playing including, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Condemned 2, MLB 08: The Show, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and more. Also we cover the gaming news from the past week, as well as last month’s NPD numbers.
Hit the jump for all of the show notes==>
Read More »
March 13, 2008 – 3:42 pm
By: Kevin Larrabee
Playing too many games at once, have you ever had that problem? Right now in my rotation I have Chrono Trigger, MLB 08: The Show, Condemned 2, Heavenly Sword, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and as of tomorrow, I will be playing a lot of Halo 3 again. I find myself in a state of gaming OCD, I keep bouncing from game to game, only playing 30-45 minutes of each, with Chrono Trigger getting the most of my time. It blows my mind that I am playing so much of it, I am a graphics whore, and I am playing a 16-bit game. It is a tribute to how good the gameplay is, and to how much I seem to have missed RPGs in general. I never really played many RPGs during the PS1, PS2, Dreamcast, Xbox, Gamecube and N64 eras. The most of my RPG gaming came when I couldn’t really understand what I was doing, like when I was playing Dragon Warrior on the NES at age 4 and 5. I do remember staying inside all weekend once playing Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy III, but ever since then I really have stayed away from them.
I have come to the conclusion that I was just intimidated by the latest RPGs. I know Final Fantasy XII is a great game, but in the video I had seen, it looked too challenging and time consuming. I like First Person Shooters because I am good at them, plain and simple. I don’t need to practice or play a lot. I went on a 4-week break from Call of Duty 4, and came in first place on my first match back. Maybe it is because I am afraid of the 40-60 hours I would need to spend on an RPG. That being said, I didn’t stay away from Oblivion, I picked it up day 1.
Wow, this turned into a blog about my battle with RPGs, I think I just realized that I need to pick up Final Fantasy XII, finally pop Blue Dragon in, and see what happens. Wait! I got it! It was the cosplayers that made me not want to play RPGs. Seriously…that is weird.
March 13, 2008 – 12:14 pm
By: Kevin Larrabee
Here is my first look at Condemned 2: Blood Shot. I am about 2 hours into the game so far and I am enjoying, although not as much as Condemned 1 so far. For some reason I am not as frightened as I was the first time I played Condemned: Criminal Origins. I am waiting to play it at night to get the mood right, I hope to have my full review up on Saturday or Sunday. Until then enjoy the following video preview:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul1dgPyNeCc[/youtube]
March 11, 2008 – 7:14 am
By: Kevin Larrabee
Xbox Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network, and now Wii Ware are home to some of the greatest classic games from our past. Many of them have been rejuvenated with online co-op, online leader boards and HD graphics. Although there have been some great additions to the respective services, here are ten more games we need to see on XBLA, PSN, and Wii Ware.
1. Marvel Vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
The best fighting game of all time. Yeah, I said it. “Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (MvC2),” was originally released in the arcades, then soon ported to the Sega Dreamcast and was also later posted to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. MvC2 featured an extensive cast from the Capcom and Marvel universes. There are a total of 56 playable characters from Akuma to Zangief. Each player selected three fighters for the match, this allowed for some great strategy. My old roommate and I would spend hours playing the game on the Dreamcast, literally until we developed blisters and couldn’t play anymore. I don’t know what Capcom is waiting for to bring this to XBLA and PSN. With the PS2 and Xbox versions of the game going for $60 or more at used game stores and on Ebay, there is clearly a demand for this game. Just imagine what HD graphics and online play could do for it. It would get more play from me than Call of Duty 4.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MarHk64UR0[/youtube] Read More »
March 9, 2008 – 8:30 pm
Download to Episode 4 here: RedZoneGamerPodcast004.mp3 (right click and save-as)
or Subscribe through iTunes!!!
Hosts:
Kevin Larrabee, Chris Picard, Seth Gibson, David Hunt
This week Kevin and Chris talk about this week’s video game news and what they have been playing. Then Seth Gibson and David Hunt from Bungie Studios join Kevin to talk about how they got into the gaming industry, what their favorite games are, what their daily activities include at Bungie, what they think about Halo 3 longevity and so much more. That is all coming up on the longest episode of the Red Zone Gamer Podcast yet!
Hit the jump for all of the show notes ==>
Read More »
March 2, 2008 – 10:12 pm
By: Kevin Larrabee
As humans we all make mistakes, but few of us affect large populations the size of the gaming community. Thanks to the Internet and a rapidly expanding market, companies are under an immense amount of scrutiny for every decision — and mistake — that they make. Over the course of this article we will observe the five biggest mistakes made so far in this generation (in no particular order), along with how to amend them, if possible. Enjoy. Read More »
March 1, 2008 – 9:06 pm
Download Episode 3 here: RedZoneGamerPodcast003.mp3 (Right Click and Save-As)
or Subscribe through iTunes!!!
Hosts:
Kevin Larrabee and Chris Picard
There was so much Post-GDC news this week, most of it revolved around Sony, but we also cover the latest Microsoft and Nintendo news. We also talk about my love for Patapon and MLB 08: The Show, Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 updates, and I also got my hands on an import Dual Shock 3.
Hit the jump for all of the show notes ==>
Read More »
February 26, 2008 – 7:35 pm
By: Kevin Larrabee
I got to play about three hours of Uncharted today thanks to some class cancellations due to heavy snowfall. After getting a more extended play through the game, I am really enjoying it. The screen tearing is not as big of a deal as I was making it out to be on Episode 2 of the RZG Podcast, but it still draws my attention from time to time. I switched the output of the PS3 to 720p (from 1080i) and that seems to have helped.
One telling sign of how much I enjoy this game is that the fan inside the PS3 actually turned on for the first time, and when it did, it rivaled the “turbines” inside of the Xbox 360. That being said, it only turned on twice, for about 5 minutes, during two hours of gameplay.
The other piece of personal news in regards to the PS3, is that I ordered a Dual Shock 3 from an import site. At the price of $63 with shipping it really doesn’t sound like a bad deal after today’s news from Sony. They announced among many things that the Dual Shock 3 will be coming to the United States in late April…for $55!!! It pisses me off that to get four controllers for any of the three consoles, it will cost you $200 or more.
February 25, 2008 – 4:53 pm
By: Kevin Larrabee
I did it. I walked down to my local GameStop and picked up a 40GB PlayStation 3. After starting up RedZoneGamer.com and making the possibly life altering decision to get into video game journalism, I had little choice on the $400 decision. I never thought I would be dropping that amount of cash on a system of which I constantly talked badly of.
There aren’t any real system sellers when it comes to the game lineup, and even Sony admitted in the March 2008 issue of EGM that they fumbled the kickoff of their new system. The time I’ve spent with the system has had its highs and lows. Now, after spending five days with it, here are my initial thoughts.
Read More »
Loading ...