This Weeks Releases: Pokeman Edition

Eleven years after Pokemon was released in Japan, the next generation of the game is released this week on Nintendo DS, again coming in two flavours (Diamond and Pearl), with even more Pokemon for you to catch.

Also out is Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80's on PS2 for all you guys that still have your Guitars. It comes with 30 Eighties tunes to rock your head to.

It's a more eventful week at the Cinema though, with two eagerly anticipated movies out. The Simpsons Movie and Transformers. Go watch them both!

Also if you have a HD-DVD player, you have three titles to choose from this week, all three equally entertaining watches - 300, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead.

Hit the jump for the full weeks list.

BluRay
300

HD-DVD
300
Hot Fuzz
Shaun of the Dead

Cinema
The Simpsons Movie
Transformers

DVD
The Hills Have Eyes 2
Missing In America
New Police Story

360
Super Contra (Live Arcade)
Wing Commander: Arena (Live Arcade)

DS
Guilty Gear Dust Strikers
Pokemon Diamond
Pokemon Pearl

PC
Alexander: Rome Add On
Combat Missions: Shockforce
Rugby 08

PS2
Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s
Rugby 08

Wii
Devil Crush (VC: SNES)
Kirby's Ghost Trap (VC: SNES)

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Heavenly Sword Demo on PSN

One of the most anticipated and freshest Playstation 3 games, Heavenly Sword, has finally been given a playable demo to download over the Network.

It weighs in at just under 950MB and gives you a taster of what to expect from this hack and slash action game. You take control of Nariko, a Goddess of War if you will, who is the holder of the 'Heavenly Sword', which drains the life-force of the holder. She embarks on a journey to defeat King Botan and his army before the Sword kills her.

Hit the jump to see the extended E3 trailer.

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Real Metal Gear Solid 4 Action

After what seems like forever, we are finally shown some real footage of someone playing Metal Gear Solid 4. And there is just one word that describes it: OMG.

Yes it really is that awesome.

And if you thought that the picture above is of Cyborg Ninja touching a statues parts, then you deserve a slap, as it is actually Solid Snake in camouflage.


If you don't have the capability to watch the amazing 15-minute long footage, then take a gander at a plethora of screenshots after the jump.

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Metal Gear Online

Konami have revealed more information on Metal Gear Online, which was hinted at by Hideo Kojima at E3. Well now it is official and Konami have revealed a few details about the game.

The new game showcases the all-new proprietary SOP system: a cornerstone gameplay mechanic that encourages players to link together with team-mates' nanomachines to build a matrix of real-time information that includes compatriots' whereabouts, battle condition, and location of nearest enemy.

Yes you read that right. It will allow a team of up to 16 players sneak away against each other.

There will be a closed Beta for the online game at starting August 20th through to September 3rd, where 3000 lucky guys (and maybe gals) will get their mitts on the demo Beta.

The application has already started, but my lack of Japanese skill has stopped me from applying. Feel free to head over to the site and apply.

No release date was given for Metal Gear Online, but 2008 would be a good year to expect it.

Hit the jump for a few screenshots of the online mayhem.

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Forza 2 Patch Finally Released

Hardcore motorheads and painters will be happy to hear that Turn-10 have finally released a patch to fix the few bugs that come bundled with Forza 2.

The main problem that users had with the game was the players who thought it would be cool to take advantage of a glitch in the game allowing them to duplicate locked designs, and then sell them on for profit. Now players will not be able to gift or sell locked designs, which is a shame if you wanted to give a car away as a present or prize, but if it stops people cheating then I guess it will have to do.

Other problems included racers abusing a bug on the Nissan Speedway and taking racing in the inside of the track to gain a stupidly fast time, and having their name plastered at the top of the leaderboards.

The Lotus Elan has also been temporarily banned due to it being incorrect grouping with other cars with much inferior stats.

Turn-10 also said that in the coming month there will be downloadable content for the game, which include new tracks (long overdue!) and more cars to add to the list of 310+ motors already included.

Hit the jump for the list of fixes.

Deny gifting and reselling of cars with locked paintjobs.
Why? Because this will help alleviate the problem where an artist's precious limited edition car gets duplicated and sold on the Auction House. The only way you can sell or gift a car with a locked livery is by being the original owner/artist of the car.

A temporary ban on the Lotus Elan use on scoreboards and in multiplayer.
Why? There is an error with the Lotus Elan's performance index calculation that puts the car at a lower class despite its capabilities, resulting in the Elan mass dominating the scoreboards in D and C class. This temporary ban will not allow you to upload lap times to the scoreboards when you use the car in career mode, and prohibits you from using the car at all in online races. When we roll out our permanent PI fix for the Elan in a future patch, we're going to lift the ban. Sorry for the draconian measure -- we really didn't like imposing this sort of restriction on the community but this is necessary.

Allow cars to be fully rotated while being viewed in the Auction House.
Why? Because so many of you asked for the camera to be unlocked in Auction House so you can look at the paintjob on the roof of the car we thought we should do good by the community.

A number of scoreboard problems have been fixed.
These range from the glitch where if the AI did not relinquish control of your car after the rolling start, you would inadvertently post a corrupt superhuman lap time in the micro-seconds, to several "extreme" physics bugs folks have been exploiting to get crazy fast lap times (lag crash boosting and the shifting glitch).

Removed host's ability to boot players during a race.
Why? Because this feature, although handy at times, was getting abused by hosts who kicked folks who were in the lead of a race where the stakes were high (i.e., credits were on the table). Don't worry, you can still kick people to your heart's content in the lobby.

Miscellaneous fixes aplenty.
Like what? Various discovered Auction House bugs that could potentially cause players to lose credits or cars. At least one triple-screen bug fix for sync'ing issues, as well as an undiscovered quickmatch bug that always connected you to the same game upon attempt.

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This Weeks Releases: Transformers Edition

A pretty quiet week this. With the main title being Transformers, on all formats, released a week before the movie to get you a bit more excited. Although the game itself has been getting pretty average reviews, I'm sure it'll please a few of the fans.

Also out is Big Brain Academy on the Wii, something to keep you occupied between Wii Sports and Zelda. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, then you can download two great titles from the Virtual Console, Street Fighter II Turbo (SNES) and Metroid (NES).

360 owners are also given something special this week, in the form of a revamped Bomberman in the Live Arcade. It has everything you expect from the bombers, except with Hi-Def graphics and Live multiplayer, which is well worth the purchase.

If you have a PS3 and have been waiting for the Darkness to come out, your wait is over as you can now pick it up and enjoy what 360 owners have probably all finished now.

Another quiet week on the movie front, Bourne Identity is the only notable release, which is on HD-DVD.

Jump to see the full release list.

BluRay
Catch and Release
Finding Neverland
Stomp the Yard

HD-DVD
Bourne Identity (US)
Nacho Libre

Cinema
Hairspray

DVD
Breaking and Entering
Catch and Release

360
Transformers: The Game
Bomberman Live! (Live Arcade)
Yie Ar Kung-Fu (Live Arcade)

DS
Transformers: The Game - Autobot
Transformers: The Game - Decepticon

PC
Transformers: The Game

PS3
The Darkness
Transformers: The Game

PSP
The Cube
Transformers: The Game

Wii
Big Brain Academy
Transformers: The Game
Metroid (VC: NES)
Silent Debuggers (VC: TurboGrafx)
Street Fighter II: Turbo (VC: SNES)

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