Bob's game

So, here's the story: Bob, a self-taught 25-year old, spends five years of his life working on a game. He wants this game to be released for the DS. Cursory glances at his videos suggest that this would probably be a good thing indeed.

Problem is, Nintendo aren't listening. As a result, Bob is doing a 100-day sit down protest to draw attention to this. Go here and show your support, or just glare at a guy live on webcam should that be your thing.

L4D and Valve Updates

While I appreciate that Valve are looking to provide some DLC soon for Left 4 Dead, I'd really like them to sort out a couple of things with the game. I mean, we've caned our way through the game multiple times and played an obscene amount of Vs. but how things like the melee and grenade bugs crept through after they went through that hassle with CS I don't know. Wouldn't mind giving the QA team a proper slap! ;)

To SEGA

Hello SEGA and Sonic Team, how are you? Looking forward to Christmas? I hope so. Here's a present from myself (and maybe Jay, who knows) - an idea we had for a brilliant Sonic game! Whilst the little blue chap has gone off the rails recently to some extent, yesterday I had a great plan for what you should do with him next.

It's radical. It pushes boundaries. It sits close to the cutting edge. What's more, it'll be great fun. See screenshot below:


Fantastic, eh? How's about it?

... please?

PLEASE?

PLEASE?!?

You know you want to.

Likewise...

Our preseason tour of Portugal drags on, with injuries flying about left, right and centre.

However, Javier Mascherano seems to be annoyed that I have not allowed him to talk to Olympic Marseille and has gone on a one-man strike behind the dugouts. Git.

In other news, I have been linked with two players that I have not even looked at. Not sure why anyone would think I am after Adrian Mutu especially - I prefer my players to be a bit less inclined to take various substances, thanks.

If all else fails....

.... shoot Steven Gerrard. Having scored a brilliant hat trick against Portuguese side Leiria, they seem to have taken a rather brutal measure to halt their embarrassment. Either that or the poor guy's taking a pre-season nap.

Serious gaming action

We've been treated to a few really decent titles as of late. Certainly worth seeing how much you can blag out of the fat man this Christmas. My latest Christmas present is a new server to put the site on...when it's done. Gawd I feel like 3D Realms with the site overhaul deadline - needs must as the devil does his business and all that!

Gooooal

Me and the lad Jay have been playing multiplayer games on FIFA and Pro Evo over the past week - the big man preferring a bit of Konami's footy, myself being rather more partial to EA's. Hm.

Just scored a classy goal as the lad Torres on Pro Evo, mind - ran through and sent a gently curling sidefoot in off the inside of the post. Quality. Jay wasn't best pleased.

Fooooootball

Still trying to fathom out which football game to buy this winter? Here are two blurrovision videos demonstrating a half of footy on both Pro Evo 2009 and FIFA 09 to give you an idea of how each plays (but not looks, obviously, although you get a good idea of the atmosphere and general impression).

Pro Evo 2009



Things to look out for: Rooney wonder goal, general ineptitude.

FIFA 09



Things to look out for: Drogba being offside a lot, more ineptitude.

Warspanner

I like Matt have been thouroughly enjoying Warhammer Online. It's addictive and highly accessible. Being an MMO fan myself, it makes a nice change to actually get involved with a game to the point that you miss it while away. So much so that I've had a couple of pints, sat down and clicked on "join server" only to find out that once again the server's full. While recently cloning our server it would seem that no bugger has moved and so we're at exactly the same point as we were a few days ago...sigh...click, click, click....sigh.

Over the moon

So, I have finally managed to get Jay into Football Manager! We've started a Premiership season as Liverpool (me) and Spurs (the big man) and currently our situation as of three games (well, two for me) is as above.

A great 4-0 win at Anfield over Villa and a solid 1-0 win away at a tricky Wigan sees me 4th with a game in hand, whilst Jay's had a win, a draw and a loss in his first three.

Watch this space for updates (such as both of us losing our jobs before Christmas)

Death Magnetic

Right, I presume that we've all found a way of hearing the new Metallica album, aye? Whether you were brave enough to risk downloading it and have Lars Ulrich possibly crawl through your telephone line and punch you in the face repeatedly or simply you have managed to pick up the various snippets and such that have been gradually released by the band themselves, if you're a Metallica fan and haven't heard it yet then you're either very disciplined or living under an internet rock.

All I can say is YEEEEEAAAAH! This is the kind of Metallica I like - not the confusing onslaught of noise that was St. Anger. Riffs flying left, right and centre, James Hetfield roaring away in some kind of blinding rage and some top, top songs. Current favourite tune: All Nightmare Long.

Perfect stuff for soothing the pain of having to watch Jay grind through Too Human! Looking forward to laying down the cash for the physical release next week (er, just in case Lars is reading of course :-)).

Too Human?

So, Jay is sitting just over <-- there playing Too Human, and looking mighty involved in the whole thing. In fact, for the most part of today it seems to have kept him rather quiet, which is unusual. Perhaps he's enjoying it!

From an observer's point, it looks fun if a little... well, repetitive. Having said that, I can't see for the life of me why it's been given such low scores at some places; it's not a classic, sure, but it still seems pretty decent.

Watch out for a review soon!

Footy, American style

So, yeah. While Jay is proceeding to watch his hard-earned virtual loot wash down the virtual table with Fable 2's Pub Games (nice purchase, son), I've been taking a chill pill for the past few days with some virus or other. Never mind, though - it's given me the chance to sit down with this year's Madden 09 in advance of doing my review next week.

See, I love American Football. Not quite sure where the seeds were sewn (I think my brother might be to blame), but ever since 1993 or so I've been following the fortunes of the Cleveland Browns, save the couple of seasons where they temporarily ceased to be. Yes, I'm a Browns fan. Stop laughing.



Anyhow, to Madden 09. This year's edition (PS3 flavour for me) is remarkably smooth, looks great and is packed full of the kinds of depth and stats that any NFL diehard could have wished for, even if they've got Brett Favre in the wrong colour jersey on the front (you can download a new Jets cover from EA Sport's Madden 09 website if you're that bothered).

In general, first impressions are positive. The Madden IQ feature adds weight to my thoughts that these games are the best way for anyone to be introduced to the sport, although I am yet to fully experience EA's claims that it fully adapts the difficulty level to suit your skills. It's shaping up to be excellent fun, and I am soon going to test the Superstar Mode to see if I once again get drafted by the ruddy Buffalo Bills. Fingers crossed I don't - seasons 07 and 08 were pretty grim for me down at the Ralph Wilson Stadium.

In any case, I'll let you know how it pans out. With Jay being perplexed as to why a football game allows players to pick up the ball and run with it and generally being rather confused about the whole NFL scene it's definitely going to be me flying solo on this one, but I think I'll live.

EDIT: Got drafted by the Seahawks. Hmm.

Fable Gambling

Dunno what that weird vid of Tekken was all about, but in other news I've been getting hooked on the Fable 2 Pub Game Gambling-like Live Arcade download. While I confess, like most gambling, it's extremely addictive, I also get the impression that some corners where cut on the balancing. Either that or they decided that they would teach us all a lesson - that when you gamble, you'll eventually loose. It would be nice to think that wouldn't be within a couple of hands, but there you go. If you're interested in playing Fable 2 then I recommend pre-ordering for a download otherwise you'll be spending your points on this little mini-game for not much else other than...well, spending your points!

Let's mess around!

It's party time here at UltraNinjas HQ, with Jay being away on holiday and me being in a jolly mood. It's about time the big man had a break given his rather tortuous workload, so hopefully he's out there getting drunk and living life to the full rather than, say, spending his time fitting blinds, installing a new cooker or getting his car serviced.

So, what does a ninja monkey do to pass his time? He watches classic game footage on Youtube, that's what. Here's a particularly jolly piece of nostalgia for you lot so you can join in the fun:



I totally rocked Tekken 3 as Hwaorang. Good times. Whilst I am here, have a listen to the new tune from Biffy Clyro. I'm not such a big fan of theirs, but Mountains is actually a pretty top song in my own opinion.



Over and out.

Braid

So, I've spent this morning playing through a few worlds of Jonathan Blow's Braid (Xbox Live Arcade, 1,200 Microsoft Points). On the face of it the thing looks like any other 2D platformer, but there's a twist within; you can move time back and forth to change object locations, move to other areas quicker or get rid of pesky enemies. It's brilliantly done, as this video shows.

Geo 2 Rocks it!

Following up on Matt was saying about Geometry Wars 2, it really is worth the few quid to buy this game. It's so unbelievably addictive and for the 6 stages it has to play offers some serious re-playability. Give it a shot :)

Error in I.E.

Sorry to all of you who may have been experiencing problems with the website displaying the blog if viewed in certain browsers - it seemed that something had been overwritten somewhere...doh!

(Thanks goes to Gaz for spotting that one!)

Geo Wars 2

So, I've just had a bit of an eye-burning session on Geometry Wars 2 and it's rather spiffing indeed! Just working my way through the single player modes at the moment and will have a review up on Friday I suspect - in the meantime, here's some footage of me having a go at the brand new King Mode and being remarkably average. Fun!

FF4 DS

So, yeah - Final Fantasy 4 is now out on the DS in Japan and the US, meaning we'll probably get it sometime early 2012. Never fear, folks; I'll be importing it and feeding my thoughts back to you at some point in the very near future. As long as this epic moment is left untouched then it'll all be fine!

Tron 2 trailer

Oooooh! Expect this video to go down quicker than (first joke deleted due to poor taste) (subsequent joke deleted due to poorer taste) Facebook on a Friday afternoon, but here's a sneaky shaky-cam preview of the Comic Con 2008 trailer for Tr2n. Yay!

Hello, what's all this about?

Looks like our pals at Square have a bit of a leak on hand. A friendly and ever-so-sneaky chap has posted the following video on Game Trailers, detailing some CGI scenes from the supposedly-postponed Final Fantasy XIII Versus. Dare I say it looks better than the normal FF XIII? Yes, yes I do. This was shown to a closed-room audience at last year's Jump Fiesta.

Ubi gets all the chicks!

It seems when poor ol' Jade Raymond has been thoroughly used and abused of late with a comic depicting her pleasuring geeks, Ubi need some fresh buxom beauts to push their latest DS titles (while passionately pursuing a lawsuit I'm sure) . The 2 lucky stars are boob bouncing beauty Holly Willoughby and Live 8 Euro-vision Top of the Tottie Fearne Cotton. Their aim - to show the girls really can play games...

Either way, boys'll be happy too no doubt!

Left: Fearne Cotton Right: Holly Willoughby

Guitar Hero 4 now officially 'MUST BUY'

Wayhey! Activision have only gone and got the rights to use some Jimi Hendrix master tracks for Guitar Hero: World Tour, including Purple Haze, Foxy Lady (bow bow bow boooooow) and the equally awesome Little Wing. What chance a bit of his version of All Along the Watchtower, given that it rocks all over Bob Dylan's version, or Crosstown Traffic?

There'll also be a Jimi character loaded up in there too, so anyone who's ever wanted to play guitar with their teeth before setting fire to it can hopefully live that dream while they're busy jamming away.

New International Track and Field

Pretty tough on your arm and your DS for sure, but New International Track and Field has ended up being great fun! Random words from the full review (which you can check out here) include: 'wrist', 'metronomic' and 'gobble'.

Now to rest my sore triceps :-)

Hang on... how?

Seems like my cat has received some kind of windfall and now has more loose cash knocking about than I do. Figures. Free from mortgage payments and electricity bills, the little chap will soon need his own little bank account! Perhaps he might buy me a pint tonight...

:-D

Recently resurrected Publisher Apogee went into E3 with not much on their plate in terms of gameplay footage for their upcoming PSP and DS re-release of the original 2D Duke Nukem trilogy, so they went and did this instead:

Not 100% sure if they meant it as a serious trailer or a tongue-in-cheek thing, but either way it gained a moderate roffle.

Well, I would comment but...

We continued with football...me Argentina and Matt as Brazil. Got all the way to the finals to face off against each other, which made a nice change seeing as how the game tends to royally fudge you out of any chances. It had been one hell of a struggle all in all, and Matt was the proud 1 nil victor in our last match.

So...f- him!

Footy no longer in progress :-(

Jay lost so we can't carry on playing this tournament, even though I qualified from my group :-(. Booooo.

Started a final attempt - Jay as Argentina and myself as Brazil. Expect updates (and probably Jay's morose moaning).

Footy in progress.

If you were wondering how my and Jay's first Pro Evo 2008 tourney is going as seperate teams, here are a selection of my notes from our first two group games. To avoid confusion, I have divided each team into colours - my Spanish team in red, his German team in grey.

• Torres wonder flick!
• Cheating AI equaliser
• Booooo
• Jay not winning
• Now losing
• Ohnoes, he lost.
• Me hitting woodwork, goalie’s face, defender’s groin, pretty much everything
• TORRES!
• Jay making noise like open fridge
• Jay looking like he is going out of tournament
• Morose - losing again
• Even more morose now
• OMG - EQUALISER :-D

More on this tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a sampler of the Torres wonder flick as mentioned above!

A blog? Why?

So, I am sure you are wondering what this funtastic blog is all about. Are we moving away from the main site? Do we have too much time on our hands? Are we trying to leap onto the cool kids' bandwagon? Yes, and no.

Y'see, blogs are handy things, and it occurred to me and Jay (but mostly me) that for a gaming website such as ours having an associated blog would enable us to splurge more gaming-based oddness your way on a more regular basis. It'll allow us to upload videos and screenshots from whatever we are currently reviewing so you can see how we're getting along, whilst at the same time it'll allow us to communicate with you chaps much easier which is what we really want to start doing. Think of it as a first step along the community yellow brick road. We aren't moving away from the site in any shape or form, though; keep your eyes peeled for something rather shiny and new in the upcoming months.

It'll also allow us to talk about things as they happen, with anything we reckon is newsworthy being uploaded and put under our funky critical microscope. Plus, we'll occasionally just add something fun; something not to do with gaming at all. Our aim with UltraNinjas from the very start has been to tear away the pretentious, business-like gloss that other places seem happy to carry and instead just report gaming for what gaming is; a bloody fun pasttime.

Onwards and upwards!

Tuuuuuunes

Last night I found myself watching a documentary on T. Rex and Marc Bolan, and it ended up with me surfing around YouTube for a good three hours listening in to many of their tunes. I've been a bit of a closet T. Rex fan for ages now, but it seems that I am going to have to shell out for some more of their records at some point in the near future. My poor, poor wallet :-(.

Quite what Jay makes of all this glam rock gubbins is a mystery to me. I can imagine him rocking up to Top of the Pops in the early 1970s and completely refusing to get involved before choosing to go and watch the Allman Brothers or something else instead.

Matt got cross...

It would seem that every time we find something in a football game that we like, we find ourselves vomiting in frustration over something else. Case in point - trying to get Italy through a Euro cup in Pro Evo '08. I think after playing a lot of footy titles, one thing stands out above the rest - they can all be a royal pain in the ass. I completely relate to Matt's frustration, made only that much bitter from an own-goal caused by running a player on auto-pilot without any possible way of making the bugger stop in his tracks. Only to follow that up with what would've been a lovely goal had Toni not stopped in his tracks....sigh, oh well - better luck next time!

VIDEO TEST

One 100% Matt goal for you, with the added benefit of no ear-shattering feedback! (Shut up Jay)