Battle Guild

God of War II is another violent and highly entertaining achievement for the action adventure genre, and it’s a fitting closeout to the PlayStation 2 era.
The Good: More of the gory, over-the-top action you’ve come to expect from this series; fantastically paced, with some ingenious puzzle designs; scale of some of the levels is unbelievably massive; superb graphics and sound; several more bosses than the first game.
The Bad: Combat is overly straightforward at times and still prone to button mashing; ending leaves you hanging.

It’s hard to imagine a better swan song for the PlayStation 2 than God of War II. Though it’s not destined to be the very last game for the system, it doesn’t seem likely that anything else will come along in the coming months to trump what God of War II achieves. As the sequel to 2005’s megapopular action adventure set within the basic confines of Greek mythology, it continues the agonizing and rage-fueled odyssey of the world’s angriest man-god, Kratos, as he goes on another epic vengeance bender. It’s an altogether familiar adventure in many ways, with a lot of gameplay mechanics held over that haven’t necessarily been improved in any meaningful capacity, but that’s not to suggest the game isn’t better overall. God of War II is a brilliantly paced, tightly crafted piece of work that’s as intelligently designed as it is thrilling to play. In short, it’s exactly what you would want from a sequel to God of War.
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God of War II

And the PSP version is finally confirmed.

You read right — God of War 3 has been unofficially announced during the launch party for God of War 2. Matt’s got the goods in his liveblog of the event:

9:40: Did Barlog just confirm that God of War 3 will be in 1080p with Sixaxis and VIBRATION functions on PS3? He sure did! Whoa! Well, technically he didn’t confirm GOW3, but he confirmed Sixaxis and vibration for the future of God of War. Here’s hoping he wasn’t joking, but it didn’t sound that way.

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God of War 3 to Have Rumble, Run at 1080p

Who knew back in 1978 that the sci-fi TV series will be turned into a role-playing game book almost twenty years later? Taking into consideration the big number of Battlestar Galactica fans, this seems like a normal shift in direction, given the fact that every major TV and film franchise nowadays is being turned into a game.

Reuters report that this RPG will
be called Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game (how original) and will be set in space just like the show. The game book will be a full-color hardcover with still images from the show and some original artwork. It will provide you with rules of play, character creation and useful information about the ship and the Galactica crew. A Qucikstart Guide will be released in early 2007, but the core product will hit stores in spring.

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Battlestar Galactica Turns RPG

An Xbox 360 game sells tons in Japan.

We said it sold 70k units. We were wrong, the actual Media Create figures for Blue Dragon showed that the game sold 80k units in its first week in Japan. Like the headline says, it obliterated Zelda — which finished 17th for the week, but guess what? Zelda came out the week before and the Wii is impossible to find across the sea — Nintendo and Zelda are just fine. Seventeen of the top 30 games in Japan are Nintendo published titles, none of the games in the top 30 were PS3 or PSP titles.

For some perspective on the Japanese market, guess what last week’s number one selling game was? A Gundam game. ‘Nuff said.
Source: gametab.com

Portrait of Ruin is a great game not because of what it does differently, but because it stays true to the familiar Castlevania design and delivers a fun, lengthy adventure.
The Good: Team mechanic puts a new twist on the familiar Castlevania formula; tons of weapons, items, and secrets to find; a handful of fantastic boss battles; excellent music; great-looking environments, character designs, and animations.
The Bad: Level design is slightly dull compared to previous Castlevania games; there are only three short levels available for co-op play.

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Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

Space Western brought to you by James Cameron’s ‘Multiverse.’

Those of us who like the “You got your Sci-Fi in my Western! / You got your Western in my Sci-Fi!” flavor of Joss Whedon’s Firefly like it a lot. It’s time for dancin’ then, to hear that the franchise is soon to be given new life as a Massively Multiplayer Online Game, courtesy of MMO Creators Multiverse and Fox.

The world of Firefly — like many classic Western heroes — burned too brightly and died too young. After only 11 episodes and one movie, the series fell on hard times, and out of production — though not for lack of fan support.
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Firefly Universe Goes MMO

Dutch daily spotlights Guerilla Games’ elusive shooter; 120 developers working on project, downloadable content confirmed.

Ever since its controversial trailer fired up 2005’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, the forthcoming Killzone game for the PlayStation 3 has been missing in action. It was nowhere to be seen at a variety of high-profile events, including E3 2006 and the 2006 Tokyo Game Show. The shooter wasn’t even mentioned at the Gamers’ Day events Sony held to help hype the launch of the PS3.

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PS3 Killzone resurfaces

Two truckloads of consoles hijacked as thieves stock up for Christmas.

Two consignments of Xbox 360s has been stolen in the UK this week, reports regional newspaper, the Express and Star.

The first occurred after a lorry (truck) was flagged down travelling south on the A38 at Hillards Cross. The driver, who thought he was being waved down to inform him of a problem with his vehicle, pulled over. The men then threatened him and dragged him out of the cab, they then made off with the lorry and £750,000 (approx $1.5 million) worth of consoles. The driver suffered minor injuries, and the lorry was later found–empty–further down the A38.

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£1 million worth of 360s stolen

7.5 million subscribers for WoW

As World of Warcraft subscribers have now reached 7.5 million worldwide, Blizzard Entertainment is
getting ready to release the first game expansion entitled The Burning Crusade.

This new pack will hit European and North American stores next year, on January 16th to be more exact. The Burning Crusade will be available on PC and Macintosh computers. There will also be a limited Collectors’ Edition that will include, besides a CD and DVD with the expansion, a Burning Crusade coffee table book, an exclusive in-game per, a World of Warcraft Trading Card Game strater deck along with some exclusive cards, a behind the scenes DVD, the official soundtrack CD and a Outland map mouse pad.

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World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Dated

New Smash Bros. footage and more at the new Space World.

Swords, and Mario Party 8. The DS also has a bunch of new titles playable, including Sim City DS, Wario Thief, and more.

A new Smash Bros. trailer is also on display - it’s about three minutes long and at the end it shows Fox Mccloud as a playable character in the game (for those of you who were waiting on confirmation).

We’ll be delivering more details, impressions, and videos in the hours to come, so stay tuned!

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Nintendo World Kicks Off in Japan