Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories US Version

November 3rd, 2006, 07:38 Posted By: wraggster

New at Play Asia



description
Vice City, 1984. Opportunity abounds in a city emerging from the swamps, its growth fueled by the violent power struggle in a lucrative drugs trade. Construction is everywhere as a shining metropolis rises from foundations of crime and betrayal.

As a soldier, Vic Vance has always protected his dysfunctional family, his country, himself. One bad decision later and that job is about to get much harder. Kicked out onto the streets of a city torn between glamour and gluttony, Vic is faced with a stark choice - build an empire or be crushed.

More Info --> http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-1ivj.html - Remember Play Asia dont sel to Europe

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GTA VCS Cheat Device v2.0 by Edison Carter

November 3rd, 2006, 03:04 Posted By: wraggster

We posted the Alpha release yesterday and already Edison Carter has updated that release, heres what he posted:

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Navarro, Zildjian sign with Guitar Hero II

November 3rd, 2006, 02:26 Posted By: wraggster

Guitar Hero II, the rhythm-based rocker for the PlayStation 2, is getting some rock-star power to help promote its Los Angeles launch. On hand to debut the game to retail will be Dave Navarro, former guitarist of Jane's Addiction and The Red Hot Chili Peppers and former cohost of the reality show Rock Star: Supernova.

Navarro will meet fans and sign autographs at the Best Buy in West Los Angeles when the clock strikes 12:00 a.m. on November 7. Gamers can get their Guitar Hero SG guitar controllers signed by the musician, whose former band, Jane's Addiction, has a song featured in the game.

Game publisher RedOctane today also announced the list of real-world music-gear manufacturers that will be featured in the game. Gamers will rock out with digital versions of equipment from BOSS Effectors, DW Drums, Eden Bass Amplification, EMG, Epiphone, Ernie Ball Strings, Gibson Guitar, Guitar Center, Hofner, Kramer, Krank, Line 6, Mesa Boogie, MusicMan Basses, Orange, Randall Amplifiers, Roland, VHT, and Zildjian.

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Wii/PS3 Sims

November 3rd, 2006, 02:25 Posted By: wraggster

As part of its earnings announcement today, megapublisher Electronic Arts revealed the release window of two of its highest-profile games. Crysis, Crytek's hotly anticipated PC shooter, and Army of Two, the co-op actioner for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, will now both arrive after the end of EA's current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2007.

"We have made some adjustments to our SKU plan that will move a couple of titles into fiscal 2008, specifically Army of Two and Crisis," EA chief financial officer Warren Jenson told analysts during a postearnings conference call.

During the same call, Jenson also confirmed that several sequels to EA's most important franchises are in the works. "Yes, there's a Sims 3 in development and it's likely to be a fiscal '09 title," said Jenson, meaning the game would hit stores before April 2009. The executive also confirmed that the Sims franchises will also be coming to two next-generation platforms--the Wii and the PlayStation 3.

"There is a Sims title that is being specifically developed for the Wii platform," said Jenson. "The Sims II holiday edition on PS3" is also coming, said the executive, indicating the game will arrive either in the 2006 or 2007 holiday season.

Several other new titles were unveiled during the call. "There will be another Lord of the Rings [game]... There's a new SimCity game in the pipeline and the next-generation version of Black. Those things alone are all new, relative to fiscal '07," said Jenson. It was unclear whether Jenson meant the games would arrive before the end of EA's 2007 fiscal year, or were just new to the company's financial plan for the 12-month period.

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Taking Bully Seriously?

November 3rd, 2006, 02:23 Posted By: wraggster

There's been plenty of controversy about Rockstar's PS2 title Bully, but does it actually have anything to teach players? Ian Bogost looks into whether the game actually has a social message, explaining: 'Taking Bully seriously means acknowledging that the game has something to say about the world, not just that the world has something to say about it. It means assessing how effectively the game tackles the topic of bullying and how meaningful its claims about it are.' His conclusion? 'Sweeping away all the dust that Bully left in the wake of its release, it's hard to defend the game, not because it might be a pubic nuisance or a danger to kids, but because it could have been so much more of a scathing critique of high school social politics than it turned out to be.

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PlayStation 3 screen captures

November 3rd, 2006, 02:21 Posted By: wraggster

Via Eurogamer

We've obviously been having some fun with our PlayStation 3 since it turned up last week, and we thought we'd snap a few screenshots of the games we've been playing so you can join in.

First up is the MotorStorm gallery, where you can see how the game's incredibly destructible cars fall apart at high speed and how the screen gets all blurry when you're going really fast across those bumpy tracks.

Second is Ridge Racer 7, looking mighty shiny. Just look at those glistening rocks. It's sort of like racing through an angry upside down glacier.

Then of course there's Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man, with its alien (or is it mutant?) packed English towns that need cleansing. We're particularly proud of the man-standing-on-his-head picture.

Obviously all the code we have is preview builds and not necessarily representative of the final games yadda yadda. Watch out for more on each of the games, and some others Sony's been nice enough to give us, in the near future.

Screens Here

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PSPUAE 0.61 Released (Amiga Emulator)

November 3rd, 2006, 02:07 Posted By: Hungry Horace

The PSPUAE team have released version 0.61 of PSPUAE. See below for details on the changes.

This major updates have been contributed by thinkp, the latest coder to join the team, whilst FOL has continued the trend with some minor clean-up work.

Please feel free to welcome thinkp to the PSPUAE site and the team. He should already know his work on improved save-state funtionality and control setups is greatly appriciated by myself!

V0.61 - thinkp update

• - optionfiles with names (name_of_the_disk.options)
  - savestates with names (name_of_the_disk.asf)
  - auto-save options when saving state (in folder STATE )
  - auto-load options when loading state (from folder STATE )
  - auto-load options when inserting disk
  - assign keys in controls menu with amiga keyboard
  (press square to open/close keyboard and cross to select, triangle to delete button)
  - assign keyboard keys to the 4 d-pad directions in combination with the l+r shoulder buttons
  (set 'Directional Buttons' in controls menu to 'Keys')
  - mouse speed option in hardware menu (from 5 [fast] to 1 [slow])
  - hi-res mouse speed option in hardware menu (from 5 [fast] to 1 [slow])
  - dual joystick control - same joystick on d-pad AND the analogue stick
  - Added folders for all files, now only the main EBOOT is in main folder (FOL)

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VCS Cheat Device PRX by Waterbottle (for use w/ DevHook)

November 3rd, 2006, 01:51 Posted By: grin.ch

That's right! A Cheat Device for use w/ GTA:VCS by Waterbottle, folks! This allows you to play GTA:VCS w/ some of the original cheats from teh first Cheat Device by Edison Carter...

5 Cheats Includes:

Infinite Health/Armor
Superman
Infinite breath
Teleport
Bouncy!

Infinite Health/Aromor -
self explitationary

Superman -
lets you fly, kindof like construction mode in lcs. Nice way to explore places you can't access

You need to hide the menu to use this. press L+left.

Inifite Breath -
Why rockstar implented the die on surface feature I 'll never know, but atleast this gets rid of it

Teleport -
/\ saves your position to a file. X teleports you to the selected location
teleports gets saved in the "ms0:/teleport" folder in files named from 1-20.
If you want to edit the name it show, edit the last part of the file.

Bouncy! -
You can bounce around.. dontgetit.gif

Enjoi,
grin.ch

EDIT:

Instructions - -
Download it Via Comments
and put it into X:/dh/kd

then open up X:/dk/271/flash0/kd

and open up the file named "pspbtcnf_game.txt"

try and find a line that is "ms0:/dh/kd/devhook.prx" (press Ctrl+b or F3 if you need to search).

and add the line ms0:/dh/kd/VCSCHEATER.prx after it.

Now just run vcs and the cheater should start.

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Super Spy 39 “The Conversation”

November 2nd, 2006, 19:11 Posted By: wraggster

Matt Kindt’s on-line Super Spy comics are updated weekly! Each story is self-contained but read as a whole, they fit together to create a larger world. A world that also ties in to Kindt’s critically acclaimed graphic novel 2 Sisters: A Super Spy Graphic Novel from Top Shelf. Check back every week for a new story that is guaranteed to feature spies, pen-guns, cyanide pills and duplicitous shenanigans.

Download at Perooz

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Sonic Rivals Preview

November 2nd, 2006, 19:03 Posted By: wraggster

Via IGN

The fastest blue mammal in the history of entertainment wants to burrow in your pants. Sonic the Hedgehog is just intrusive that way. He takes his 90s "attitude" and red shoes and rockets just about anywhere he pleases. But that's a huge part of why the gaming public has stuck with him for so long. Now SEGA stands ready to preach the Sonic gospel to PSP owners everywhere with the upcoming Sonic Rivals.

The PSP title has more in common with the original 16-bit Sonic than the upcoming next-gen version. Players control Sonic as he dashes along a two dimensional track. Only it looks far better than before, since the developers made the game look three dimensional - a lot like Viewtiful Joe. The gameplay follows a strict 2D track but the environments and characters benefit from 3D modeling. The effect works well and makes the game look the part of a next-gen handheld game. But visuals will only take a game so far in this industry. If a title places style over substance - few will take the bait.

It looks like Rivals wants to sidestep this dangerous practice. SEGA representatives strolled into the IGN office the other day to show off the latest build of Rivals. It has undergone improvements across the board, most noticeably in the framerate, though. The early demo on display at E3 2006 did a good job of showing where the game would end up, but this latest version had all the pieces in place. One such piece, the actual story, shows up in full form. It still has everything to do with the maniacal tendencies of Dr. Eggman -- just as any Sonic fan would want. This time, he has blasted through the world capturing all of Sonic's fans and trapping them.

This sets Sonic, along with cohorts Knuckles, Shadow and Silver, on the road to sweet justice. As fate would have it, this road has a lot of racing in it. Even though developers are quick to note that Rivals is not a racer, that's practically what you spend most of your time doing. Having said that, there's a lot more to Rivals than slamming on the accelerator and hoping for the best. Each course in the game has a different theme and accompanying obstacles. Sonic and crew need to bounce on platforms and blast through barriers, not to mention deal with twists, turns and the ever-present spikes. It's a lot for a posse of heroic mammals to handle. Especially since, they need to fight each other along the way. Hey, it's not called Sonic Rivals for nothing.

The game splits into two main modes, the biggest of which is single-player. Here, you choose a character and jet through stages in linear fashion. The game has you go through themed zones, each of which breaks into three acts. And it's not just racing and obstacle avoidance, either - you need to contend with a string of nasty boss fights. Apparently, you fight these with full control of you character, not at all like the on-rails races that comprise most of the game. The look of the bosses is reminiscent of the old-school ones - something fans will certainly appreciate.

One of the strongest elements of Rivals, apart from the single-player element, is multiplayer. You can join or host races, as well as choose your character and the track you want to play. To make things more interesting, you can choose to wager certain cards (found during the game) in every multiplayer encounter. You can also opt to trade them, too, if gambling violates your principles - or if you just don't want your friends to gank your hard-earned cards. Multiplayer sounds fairly straightforward, but it offers a deal of fun..

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Cash Money Chaos allows PSP versus PS3 multiplayer

November 2nd, 2006, 18:36 Posted By: wraggster

Via PSPFanboy

A kitten dies every time the PSP loses an exclusive game. Thankfully for us PSP owners, it appears that PSP games that get ported to other systems lose something in the translation (like multiplayer in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, or well, everything in Lumines). However, the PS3 version of once PSP-exclusive Cash Money Chaos seems to lose only one thing: price. The game will be downloadable to the PS3, as part of Sony's new digital distribution strategy. Sony went on record saying that PLAYSTATION 3 downloadable games won't cost more than $15, which means this game will certainly cost less than the PSP's UMD version. Bah humbug!

At least it seems like the game plays well, according to our overlords at Joystiq. They note that once the PSP version comes out in February, you'll be able to play multiplayer between the PSP and the PS3 versions. I'd love to see that functionality extended to even more games soon.

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Roll Up! Roll Up! New Thrillville Trailer Inside

November 2nd, 2006, 18:18 Posted By: wraggster

Via Spong

A wise SPOnG staffer once said, “A man who’s tired of theme parks is tired of life”, and by extension, if you don’t get just a teensy-bit excited about this new trailer of forthcoming theme park creator, Thrillville, then you really need to see your doctor about upping the anti-depressants.

The game, which had many kids-of-all-ages quite excited at E3 this year, is being distributed by Atari in Europe and is simply described as, “a nonstop party in a theme park that you create.”

Plus it has the additional bonus of not involving hours of pointless queing and spending extortionate amounts of money on cold, tasteless junk food (but surely that’s all part of the fun?!, Lardy Ed).

If nothing else, the fact that it’s being developed by David ‘Elite’ Braben’s Frontier Developments should pique your interest.

You can take enormous amounts of self-satisfaction by building and riding your own dream rollercoasters and rides (from wooden, corkscrew and inverted coasters to merry-go-rounds, trains and all your favourite carnival rides). Oh, oh and you can also make and race go-kart tracks, play mini-golf on courses and play a range of four-player party games, from bumper cars to classic Midway arcade shoot-‘em-ups, with mates.

The game’s storyline involves you ensuring the punters in the theme park you’ve inherited from your eccentric Uncle Mortimer are kept happy, in order to fight off the ever-present threat posed by the nefarious Globo-Joy corporation.

In addition to good management and park-building skills this involves getting involved close-up, face-to-face with all your punters, chatting and joking with them to make sure they’re enjoying themselves.

Trailers Here

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Metareview - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

November 2nd, 2006, 18:15 Posted By: wraggster

Via Joystiq

We said it before, and we'll say it again: Grand Theft Auto is stale. But we can't knock the hustle. Rockstar has settled into a niche that continues to sell. Why change?

Some critics' thoughts:

1UP (90/100) - "The empire-building facet, though reminiscent of purchasing businesses in the first Vice City, is quite significant ... The other additions aren't nearly as significant, but they are welcome ... [but] some serious series flaws stubbornly refuse to budge, a fact that grows harder to ignore with each passing entry ... It's a shame Rockstar chose not to fix obvious flaws that have been called out repeatedly, but the weight of the total experience more than counterbalances this disappointment".

Game Informer (second opinion) (82.5/100) - "I've pimped, extorted, and murdered my way to the top so many times now, the thrill of criminal indulgence has finally begun to fade. This is more of the same from the franchise, with a few more serious themes thrown in. But if you've already drunk your fill of the free-roaming gangbuster cup, then this mix is going to taste a little stale."

GamePro (75/100) - "[It's] a big shame that lot of that personality has gone missing ... the characters and dialogue don't have the same snap nor does the game exhibit the same goofy and utterly loveable 80's style. Instead, the game is gritty and dull to a fault ... Vice City Stories retains the same problems that plagued past titles. The auto-aim function doesn't work well, the AI isn't particularly smart, and some missions are completed more through trial and error than anything else."
Current overall average: 87/100

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EB-Gamestop & eBay not conspiring to cancel PS3 pre-orders

November 2nd, 2006, 18:13 Posted By: wraggster

The rumor -- PlayStation 3 pre-orders sold on eBay will be cancelled by EB-Gamestop -- was a stretch when it first surfaced two days ago, and now EB-Gamestop's director of public & media relations Chris Olivera has officially debunked it. "Are we canceling pre-orders that appear on eBay? The answer to that is no," Olivera confirmed.

eBay will continue to moderate PlayStation 3 (and Wii) pre-order auctions using these guidelines:

Only one of each console can be listed per eBay account prior to the launch of the console

The seller must only accept payment through PayPal, and have at least 50 feedback with a 98% or greater positive rating so that they qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection
The pre-sale item must be listed in the 3, 5, 7 or 10-day formats, and cannot use Buy It Now
The listing must include a photo of your pre-order receipt in the description

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Swarovski crystal PSPs

November 2nd, 2006, 17:58 Posted By: wraggster

2 new PSPs are to be released soon both made up of 2000 crystals each in the case, The PSPs are called Passion of Flowers and Black Cobra and will set you back a nice 899€ ($1143 USD).

Screens of the PSPs via Comments

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Don't hold your breath for Resi 5

November 2nd, 2006, 17:42 Posted By: wraggster

We'd known Resident Evil 5 was a fair way off, with developer and publisher Capcom deciding not to show any of the next-gen zombie-blaster at this year's Tokyo Game Show, but a recent interview with the producer of Capcom's Xbox 360 stormer Lost Planet suggests we might be lucky to see it on shelves next year.

Speaking to French gaming website Xbox Gazette, producer Jun Takeuchi explained his game's engine was being shared among several Capcom titles: "Dead Rising, Devil May Cry 4 and maybe Resident Evil 5 will be using the same engine."

That doesn't mean that you can squint at Lost Planet, imagine those are zombies running around under the Mediterranean sun, and know what to expect, though, as Takeuchi clarifies: "As for Resident Evil 5, we do plan to use the same engine but will be making a number of changes - you could say we will be tuning it to run like a GT car."

Don't be too alarmed, though, as even if Resi 5 doesn't have an engine yet, its team is likely still elbow-deep in work on it - prototyping its new features before slotting them into what will become the finished game. We'll still be itching like T-virus victims while they polish it to better-than-Resi-4 standards (is that even possible?) but we know it'll be worth the wait.

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Battle for the masses in Dynasty Warriors: Eurotrip

November 2nd, 2006, 17:42 Posted By: wraggster

After at least five hundred versions of the Dynasty Warriors Japanese army slashers on PS2, its developer is turning its attention to Europe for PS3's Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War.

Instead of playing a legendary general leading his armies to glorious victory, you'll be mucking in as a mercenary company, fighting for either the French or English as you choose (although, to be fair, we can't see too many of you picking the French without an incentive). It's possible to switch sides throughout the war, with performance on the battlefield more important than loyalty.

While Dynasty Warriors veterans should be at home with the button-hammering, combo-building combat, there'll be a little more strategy involved in using the right units in the right situations - and we're hoping for some PS3-flexing destructible castle walls in the sieges.

Currently looking a little ropey compared with the majesty of Medieval 2 on PC, Bladestorm still has plenty of time before its mid-2007 release to flick all the 'look hot' filters on. But Dynasty Warriors was never a looker - it's all about the action.

Screens Here

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PS3 Ratchet & Clank underway

November 2nd, 2006, 17:23 Posted By: wraggster

Insomniac has revealed that it's full steam ahead on a Ratchet & Clank game for PlayStation 3 at the studio.

Reportedly dishing the dirt in a fan newsletter and saying the game is in "full production", the developer refused to spill further beans but did hint that more on the sequel will be unveiled soon.

Insomniac, of course, is also behind PS3 game Resistance: Fall of Man, an alternate reality-themed FPS.

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Kawazu questions need to target global markets differently

November 2nd, 2006, 17:16 Posted By: wraggster

Final Fantasy XII producer Akitoshi Kawazu has questioned whether games should be targeted at different global markets - something Square Enix doesn't practice.

Speaking in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Kawazu said, "When we're making [FFXII] we really don't think in terms of Japanese players, American players, European players. I think if you stop and start looking at features, and saying, this will work in Japan, this won't work in America, this will work in America but won't work in Japan - then it's very difficult to make anything at that point.

"Ultimately, we're making all of our decisions based on what we think will make for the best game," he continued.

"I think this is something that's true not just in gaming, but in general when you're creating something - you have to make something that first and foremost, you think is appealing and is going to have an interest to people. In that regard, we really don't think about what particular market group we're developing something for."

However, Square Enix does treat markets differently with regard to when games are released - Final Fantasy XII, for example, won't be out in Europe until nearly 12 months after the Japanese launch.

"Naturally, in a perfect world, we would also love to have the game released simultaneously worldwide. Realistically speaking, there are a lot of reasons that make that impractical," Kawazu explained

"There is very much a movement within the company to try and shorten the time it takes to do that, but there are a lot of practical things that make it difficult, and hopefully in the future it can be made a little bit shorter."

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PS3 to hit Hong Kong and Taiwan on November 17

November 2nd, 2006, 17:14 Posted By: wraggster

Just days after news emerged that Sony has cut its shipment target for the Japanese launch of PS3, it's been announced that the console will hit Hong Kong and Taiwan on November 17.

According to an article on Digitimes.com, the announcement was made by Tetsuhiko Yasuda, managing director for Sony Computer Entertainment Asia.

He said the 60GB model will be priced at TW$17,980 (EUR 425) in Taiwan, while the 20GB version, which won't go on sale until December, will cost TW$14,980 (EUR 355).

Although Yasuda did not offer any shipment projections for Hong Kong and Taiwan, he did say that SCE intends to sell 1 million PS3 units in the territories.

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