NFS ProStreet Video Analysis | An In-depth Look

EA Blackbox has taken NFS ProStreet in a new direction - the right one. The recent NFS series have been sub par at best. While I enjoyed Most Wanted and Underground 2, but I can't say the same for Carbon.

A couple of trailers have been released. Here's what I like so far: 

1. The physics engine: The previous NFS games lacked an important element - the physics. Sure its an arcade racer but you need the rudimentary physics at the very least. No, I am not saying that turn NFS into Gran Turismo or Project Gotham Racing. What I am saying is that if I drive a car, it should feel like one and handle accordingly. I am sick of pulling off all those corners at excessively high speeds - it's plain dumb. While I don't know whether the cars handle realistically in ProStreet but I can sure say one thing - the crashes rock! Which brings me to my next point.

2. Realistic damage models: Now, the car makers won't like it, but I sure love crashing an expensive car (in videogames, that is)! EA has acquired rights to apply damage models to these licensed cars which means even more realistic damages. Gone are the days of minor scrapes and broken rearview mirrors. We're talking about body transformations that truly mimics what you'd expect if you drove a Mazda head long into a wall at 150 mph.

3. Sense of speed: The fast paced action packed races are back in NFS ProStreet. From what I saw, you really do feel like driving a fast sports car. I hope they feature motion blur this time.

4. A change of locale: What does NFS Underground, Underground 2, Most Wanted and Carbon have in common? They are all about illegal racing in cities. While it rocked in Underground and Underground 2, but the midnight racing theme is getting a bit - um, I don't know - a bit boring. So kudos to EA for making the switch to daylight locations and not making me drive in a city all again.

5. Getting rid of those cheesy cut scenes they called a story line: They might have worked in Underground and Most Wanted but Carbon was a laugh off. I barely went through them - all I want is some good old fashioned racing. But the racing girls are hear to stay (thanks!) and EA hinted that there will be some sort of persuasion to keep players going for more.

6. Smoke effects: I just love what I saw - the burning of rubber and getting to see the smoke as it fills the air. This is a new feature in the NFS franchise. Hope they handle it properly and not blow it off.

Now that's not to say that I like everything in NFS ProStreet. I was a bit disappointed with what I saw in one trailer - the way that the cars drove off the cliffs - they seemed a bit too flimsy for my likings. Anyway, don't take my word for it. Head on to Gametrailers and see them yourself. Can't wait for NFS ProStreet to release this October.

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Ninja Gaiden 2 Stated For Xbox 360 | Exclusive Screenshots

After wild rumors and speculation in message boards, Microsoft finally confirmed that Ninja Gaiden 2 is to be released on the 360 sometime in 2008. It is being worked on by Team Ninja, developer of the 2004 Xbox Ninja Gaiden, the 2005 Xbox rework Ninja Gaiden Black, and the 2007 enhanced rework Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PlayStation 3.

Moments after the screenshots were pulled from the Japanese edition of Xbox.com, Microsoft announced that it is in development. Luckily that didn't stop us from getting our hands on a couple of awesome (and gory) screenshots for you to enjoy. Click on the link below to view the screens (if you are on the homepage of this blog).

 

Click on the individual screens to get a bigger view. Judging from the looks of it, Ninja Gaiden 2 is gonna be a hell of a gory game. Subscribe to the Gamers World Bangladesh Blog Feed/Newsletter to get updated when we have more info on this game.

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Grand Theft Auto IV delayed until spring 2008

Take-Two announced on Thursday that GTA4 for PS3 and Xbox 360 would be delayed until April 2008 at the earliest due to requiring additional development time. As a result, company shares (not to mention gamer hopes) dropped 13 percent on the news.

"Certain elements of development proved to be more time-intensive than expected, especially given the commitment for a simultaneous release on two very different platforms," said Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick.

"We are very disappointed to reduce guidance after having previously reaffirmed it," added chief executive Ben Feder in a statement to investors.

The game, originally scheduled for release in October, will miss out on big holiday sales, likely dealing a blow to both Microsoft and Sony in the process as Grand Theft Auto IV was expected to be one of year's biggest selling games.

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Halo 3 Rumor Control | What Microsoft Didn't Want You to Know

A lot of rumors have been swarming around the internet about Microsoft's most anticipated shooter of this year, Halo 3 for the Xbox 360. Gamers World Bangladesh Blog decides to take an in-depth look at the swarming clouds surrounding this rumor.

Microsoft was coy about bringing up new details on Halo 3 in its press conference and at E3. We all saw the first ever campaign footage trailer and that's just about it. So we've done some rumor hunting and discovered a couple of exciting features that Microsoft might have been keeping under the lid. It could very well make it into retail when Halo 3 releases September 25th. So, without further ado here it is:

 1. Four player co-op support: This rumor has been around for a long time. But it got busted when there were no hint of four player co-op achievement in the unveiling of the Halo 3 achievements. However, this has re-surfaced once again. In a recent interview with Major Nelson, Jeff Bell, VP of Global Marketing for Microsoft "sold" the product a little too much. He mentioned how great it was to play Halo 2 co-op with his son and then gave away, "we're really looking forward to playing with my three sons, all together on Halo3". It just might be via system link but the fact that he said this right after mentioning co-op play with his son on Halo 2 adds even more speculation to this rumor.

According to a recent Bungie announcement in Amsterdam, Halo 3 will indeed have 4-player co-op. One player will take the role of Master Chief, another will be The Arbiter and the last two (the suckers) will be Elites. Whether or not Bungie will be renaming "Elite" to "kid not picked in gym class" is still unknown. Source: Kotaku

 2. New weapon unearthed: A new weapons have been found. One is the Brute Excavator which was first spotted in the Halo 3 beta source code. A little while back, the guys over at the 7th Columnist came upon a render of the Excavator while scouring for new bits of info. In addition, the documentary Et tu, Brute? by Bungie featured, you guessed it, the weapon in the hands of a Brute. The boys over at Xbox 360 FanBoy sighted the hammer twice during a walkthrough of Halo 3 at E3; once in a character's hand and at another instance on a character's back. When Sketch was inquired about it while showing the teaser video, he wasn't allowed to comment.

3. A new grenade type: In a Halo 3 trailer video analysis, Joystiq came across what appears to be a new grenade type. Further research in The Art of Halo book revealed that the icon which represents the new grenade type closely resembles the look of the Supa Double Cap Bomb - some sort of a flash grenade that shoots out sparks according to its description.

4. A multiplayer map editor: Last but certainly not the least, 1UP noticed a menu option called "Forge" while taking an exclusive look ad the Halo 3 campaign. Bungie declined to comment what it was about. But if you go back to the Marathon series, you'll recall that Bungie used a program called Forge to build game levels. Therefore, many believe that the menu option means that there could be some sort of multiplayer map editor. The August 7th issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) is said to have the insider scoop on this feature.

Well that's what we could dig up folks! Subscribe to the Gamers World Bangladesh Blog Feed/Newsletter to catch the latest updates on Halo 3.

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Call of Duty gets Modern in Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare

I like the new direction in which Infinity Ward is taking in Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare. Don't take me wrong but the World War II theme was getting a bit repetitive, although I enjoyed Call of Duty 3 on my Xbox 360.

This time Call of Duty 4 is set in a fictional modern-day conflict. Gone are the clashes between the Allied and the Nazis. Rather Modern Warfare is about thwarting "The Four Horsemen", a regime of the Middle Eastern dictator and his pal Russia.

Call of Duty 4 is an impressive graphical feat - even better than that of gears of War. Infinity Ward has spent the past two years improving its technology to create a far prettier game. You will see beams of sunlight breaking in through the cracks, dust particles in the air and the smoke trail from a rocket launcher as you take on an M1A1 Abrams tank, to name a few. The characters have full self-shadowing and a high level of detail. Get close to a soldier and you will see realistic looking flesh, read the time on his watch and might even see him sweat!

Infinity Ward has taken great pains to put you in the heat of modern warfare - there are explosions everywhere, enemies around every corner, helicopters spinning out of control and crashing - and all these happens at 60 frames per second! I'm sure it will be a hell-of-an-experience.

You also get to pilot an M1A1 Abrams tank the Ac130 Gunship. Now, I think that the AC130 is the ultimate air-to-ground combat vehicle, with the 25mm Equalizer Gatling Gun, the 40mm L60 Bofors Canon and the 105mm M102 Howitzer, you will lay waste to anything that comes in your path.

While I could go on and on about Call of Duty 4's impressive feats, I applaud Infinity  Ward's decision to ditch the World War II setting. Can't wait to get my hands on Call of Duty 4 when it releases this fall!

Image courtesy of ign.com

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Die hard Oblivion fan - disk error - you've just wasted 110 hours!

Ugh! That's why I hate consoles - because of their over reliance on the DVD drive and the DVDs itself. If anything goes kaput, then it's game over. Worse still is the fact that a malfunctioning DVD drive in next-gen consoles is next to impossible to replace by yourself.

Take my point for example. I'm an avid fan of the Elder Scrolls IV : oblivion. I've completed every single quest in Oblivion. But my love for Oblivion didn't stop there. I've taken great pains to set up a home network to share my internet connection, so that I could download the near 1 GB expansion pack, Shivering Isles, over my lousy 128 kbps connection (it's the fastest in Bangladesh). Trust me it wasn't a happy moment. Not only that, but I've had trouble paying for Shivering Isles because I live in Bangladesh ( and goddamned Microsoft won't accept an international Visa credit card!!). Nasty details aside, and fast forward a couple of days, I was happily exploring the wonderful realm of Sheogorath in Shivering Isles. I've spent over 110 hours in total playing Oblivion, I just can't put it down.. But it seems that I am cursed, because my woes with Oblivion didn't end there.

Recently, I'm getting an unreadavle disk error while playing Shivering Isles. It's gotten so frequent that I can't even load the goddamned game. The cause? If you play long enough on the 360, your game disk could get scratched(more at http://gamersworldbd.blogspot.com/2007/06/xbox-360-can-scratch-your-game-disks.html). My warranty period has expired so there's no option for replacing the disk. I could just buy a new one - yep, that seems the best option. But ther's just a teeny-weeny problem. I've imported my Xbox 360 and all its game from the US. So none of the pirated games available here in the whole of Bangladesh is going to work on my unmodded X360.

Looks like I will just have to travel thousands of miles to the nearest Gamestop retail outlet in the US to grab a new copy of the game. Yeah, I'll do that. I'll even go to the ends of the earth just to be able to play Oblivion again - heck, it's the only reason I bought an Xbox 360.

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Manhunt 2 gets "Adults Only" Rating

Earlier today, the British Board of Film Classification gave Manhunt 2 a thumbs down, banning it from sale in the UK due to its "unremitting bleakness" and "casual sadism." Now it appears the Entertainment Software Rating Board is ready to hand down its own most restrictive rating to the latest controversial offering from Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games.

A Take-Two representative told GameSpot today that the ESRB has issued an initial rating of AO for Adults Only to Manhunt 2. While not an outright ban, the rating would severely limit a game's sales potential, as most major American retailers have chosen not to carry games rated AO.


As for the reason this is only an "initial" rating, when the ESRB rates a game, it notifies the publisher 30 days prior to publicly releasing its decision. This gives publishers unhappy with ratings the chance to either modify their games and resubmit them for a second assessment, or go before the ESRB's appeals board to challenge it directly.

"We believe the process of rating video games is to help people make informed entertainment choices and not to limit them," a Take-Two representative said. "Manhunt 2 was created for mature audiences and we strongly believe it should receive an M (Mature) rating, aligning it with similar content created in other forms of media. We are exploring our options with regard to the rating of Manhunt 2."

While Take-Two doesn't agree with the idea of an AO-rated Manhunt 2, one parent watchdog group believes it's only appropriate. Earlier today, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood demanded that the ESRB give Manhunt 2 an AO rating, saying that "harmful effects of ultra-violent video games on children will be magnified by playing them on the interactive Nintendo Wii system."

The group's announcement contained a statement from Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston, who explained, "The content of Manhunt 2 and the unique physical interaction with the Wii control combine to take [the game's simulation] a level closer to reality--we can expect that the effects of this experience will be even greater."

The group directed like-minded individuals to contact ESRB president Patricia Vance with their concerns, and Vance today issued her response.

"We have received the letter from CCFC and, while we might take issue with some of the statements made within, we sincerely appreciate their expressed concerns," Vance said. "Our ratings are intended to provide guidance that allows parents to choose games they deem suitable for their children, and that is a responsibility we take extremely seriously."

Manhunt 2 is currently slated for a July 10 release on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii.

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NFS heads to a new direction : PROSTREET

EA Blackbox is at it again. After the release of Carbon, EA has announced that another NFS series is in the works, dubbed NFS : ProStreet. With ProStreet, EA has decided to drop out its stereotypical "control the city by taking on the top dogs" setting for a more real-life experience of street racing today. Gone are the arcade type underground racings, replace by more realistic races, cars that hadnle as it should and close quarter day light courses. "We’re trying to reflect what we see the culture doing. The culture is really moving away from that bling, the neon, the fast and the furious thing; the cars that ride on trailers but don’t actually ever ride on the track.", said Black Box producer John Dyle in an interview with Gameinformer.

But the wide array of cars, and, ofcourse, the hot girls are here to stay. And so is the widely popular "Autosculpt" feature. Although there will be no "cheesy" cutscenes as in the previous games, but, EA has promised that there will be some sort of motivation to keep players pushing forward.

The main highlight of the game is the car damage system and physics. Cars now crash more realistically and with visible damages, including flipping them, rolling them and totaling them.

Sadly for gamers, the police is out of the scene in NFS Prostreet. "This year that consequence is really driven by damage. This game is about your ability to build and drive fantastically powerful cars and that’s where we wanted to keep our focus."

I'm pretty excited about NFS ProsStreet. I think the pull away from night-time arcade type racings is going to pay off. Lets just wait and see.

For more images, visit: http://www.ea.com/nfs/prostreet/media.jsp?locale=us

For the full interview with EA Blackbox producer John Dyle, head on to: http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200706/N07.0601.1611.06445.htm

For the officila trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=19790&type=mov

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