The death of GM2 today?

You read that right, we are strongly considering letting GM2 go in favor of a new, redesigned blog. What we're going to do for now is start up this new blog with me, Zam, and Doug leading the way, and run it for a month or so to see how it works out. If we get a lot of hits and some comments we'll keep going with it and leave GM2 here as an old archive.

The reason we're doing this is because this blog has gotten way off course and we need to redirect what we're trying to do. We also lost tons of readers when we went dry over the summer, which was a very bad move. With this new one I think we we're aiming for is mainly games, but with movies, TV, and music sprinkled in moreso then they are now. We'll also have the occasional hot women on when it fits in. So it's not going to be another Gamer Mania, but something new.

So for a week to two weeks we're going to be not doing any posting unless there's big news, because you have no idea how much work it takes to really plan out a blog if you want it to succeed. We're also going to bank some game and movie reviews to drop all at once in the first week so we can start out with a bang. Doug's going to stay with us and probably help out a lot since he's not only a reader, but he recently made a new blog from an old one and in two months he's getting 400 hits a day. We have also acquired a new member by the name of Cat, who is definitely going to bring some diversity to a staff of 3 guys. Not only is she a woman but she lives in Europe, so she'll be able to give some very different opinions than we do. And soon the inevitable "Do you really game?!!?!?" questions will come...

And for all you GM2 fans don't worry, we're going to keep a lot of what we do here. We just want to add now that we've learned a lot from this blog. We'll keep you updated on how it's going with things like the name, what we're going to do in the first week, and when exactly we think it's going to start. And we'll give you a link once it's done.

Just stay with us guys, we promise it's about to get very good, very soon.

Fall of Liberty

In 1931, Winston Churchill was hit by a taxi in New York. In the real world, he survived, and went on to rally the British people to fight the Nazi threat. But what if he hadn't?

It'’s from this premise that Fall Of Liberty takes it's theme - without Churchill's leadership, Europe and the United Kingdom have fallen to Hitler's forces. By 1951, using crushing technical superiority, the United States is invaded and defeated by the Third Reich.

With this setting, Fall Of Liberty will be an FPS experience like no other; a game that'’s both a World War 2 FPS and something different. Fighting not as a soldier, but a resistance fighter in a United States of America that'’s under the rule of a foreign power.

Now that sounds like a cool game. I know they do WWII games ad nauseam, but at least this one has a new twist. I really like this idea, and often wonder about things like this. Seeing it on screen just sounds fun.

I haven't been able to find a definitive answer as to what all this will be released for. In a couple different places, all I've seen is next-gen/PC. So who knows which next-gen systems they are talking about. I'd imagine the PS3 and 360.

--SmilesD
Writer at Smiles That Kill

Wow, Did You Know It;s Time For Marked Down Mondays?!?!?!

Yippee, it's time for Marked Down Mondays! This week we got a special. Great deals, plus all the shipping is FREE! Now the deals:



1. The first deal is a good one. It's a nice Logitech (very good and trusting company) Bluetooth headset. But its for the amazing price of........$19.99! This is a great deal, and you save about $30! Plus, the shipping is FREE! Now that's amazing. Go and buy this little baby HERE.


2. Secondly, this is an great, great deal. Nowadays, viruses and spyware and getting crazy. There are so many. And you need some good protection. But did you know you can get a pretty respected and popular virus protection software program for only $6.99?!?! I didn't either until I found this deal on the new Norton Antivirus 2007. Plus, the shipping is FREE! But, it has a $30 mail-in-rebate, which is pretty bad. But still, this is an incredible deal you can't pass up. Check it out HERE.


3. Finally, this is an awesome deal on a HUGE hard drive. And when I say big, I mean BIG. This thing is 500GB! Now when you hear this, you think, "Wow, that's gotta be at least $600." Well you'd be wrong. It's actually only $199.95! Plus, the shipping is FREE! Man, that's great. This hard drive usually goes for over $300. Go and get this for you computer, now, right HERE.

Hope you liked this FREE shipping marathon this week. Enjoy!

-Zam

This Week In Gm2!

Before we start TWIGM2, let's first talk about last week in GM2:


Ton deals us some deals in MDM
SmilesD disses 5 games in his 5 most overrated games
Ton gives you a carbinated, over-the-speed-limit preview of Need For Speed: Carbon
Musicology: Video of the band Augustana
I dished out 3 great websites in WW
Ton recaps this week in releases in Release Recap
360 News: 100GB Hard Drive!!!
Some PS3 News
No Halo Movie! (For Now anyway)
Videology: Watch as this guy proves he has sexual crisma
SmilesD asks the question: What was your first must have game?
Lucy Clarkson has a message for you (pictures of her ass, INCLUDED!!)
Finally, A review of the new Justice League Heroes for the Nintendo DS


This week, SmilesD is doing his usual news, random questions, all his usuals. Ton is bringing you a few previews for the 360 and possibly a review of something. I'm brining you a review of Robin Williams' new comedy "Man of the Year", and maybe a preview or two, and maybe another preview. And of course, the usuals, the Videology, the Marked Down Mondays, Release Recap, all that good stuff. So this is gonna be a good week in GM2!

Justice League Heroes (DS)

Normally I wouldn't get a game like this for the DS, but a few months ago when I was trading things in, they brought it to my attention I could save a few more bucks if I reserved a game. I scanned the sheet, nothing caught my eye, so for whatever reason this was the game I ended up with.

I haven't gotten all that far into the game, but here's what I've picked up on so far. Someone is controlling the minds of various villians and superheroes. It's your job to go around and get these mind control devices off the various individuals.

As far as gameplay is concerned, it's a button masher with a little technique mixed in. So far, 9 out of 10 villians has been a robot who shoots at you. Different characters have different fighting tecniques. I've only used Batman, Wonderwoman, and Flash so far, so here's an example of some of different fighting techniques.

Batman throws his batarang, punches, and does some explosion type attack. However, he's very slow so he's not a very good choice when fighting in areas with lots of robots.

Wonderwoman throws her lasso, punches, and does a flying twist type attack. She also flys around which is good when trying to avoid enemies.

Lastly, and probably my favorite character to use so far is Flash. Obviously, the guy is fast, and his attacks are super fast which makes me extremely affective in highly populated enemy areas.

Back to the game. You pretty much go to different areas, kill all enemies, save a civilian or two, and when you're done you move on to the next area and do the same thing. It's basically the same thing over and over again with an occasional boss battle here and there. As you go through the game and fight with certain characters, they gain additional attacks, and the attacks they already possess become more powerful.

The only true problem(s) I have with the game is lighting. If the room's not extremely bright, from time to time it becomes very hard to see the screen. There are also parts of the game that are near impossible to get through with certain characters. If it weren't for Flash, I'd still be way back at the beginning sequence or two. Other then that and the reptitive objectives, the game is kind of fun.

Like I said, I'm only 10% into the game so there might be a lot I'm missing. If there is, I'll be sure to let you guys know, but the way things look right now, this is your typical button masher.

Would I recommend this game? Probably not. It's not boring or bad, there are just a lot better games out there for the DS. If you want a Justice League game, you're probably better served to get it on a home console.

--Smiles That Kill
Writer at Smiles That Kill
Today's feature, Adult Model Ariel X

Lucy Clarkson sends you a message

Jodie Jordan, if you are out there Lucky Clarkson apparently wants you to kiss her ass. If you don't think you can make it, I'll glady go on your behalf.

Anyways, if you're sitting there wondering what in in the hell this has to do with gaming, I'll tell you, very little. Lucy Clarkson was the girl Lara Croft was modeled after, and well, I thought this was a great time to pass on that little piece of trivia. Now you know who she was modeled after, and because of these awesome pictures, you know some of the finer details of Lara Crofts body. Enjoy!

--SmilesD
Writer at Smiles That Kill

What was your first "must have" game?

I can remember mine like it was yesterday, except it was like 15 years ago. I can't remember if I was in kindergarden or first grade when I got my Nintendo, but either way, I can remember the first game I begged for. You wanna know which one? Sure you do. I begged for an entire weekend to get Double Dribble. Remember that one? If you don't, you're no gamer at all.

I can remember playing that game on my beat down TV, a TV that had no Cable, no remote, and you had to change it with a dial type thing. I remember my dad beating my by about 50 points at halftime, and some how I'd come back and win before the game was over. I don't know if it had anything to do with my crying about the beat down, but something tells me it was.

That game was the shit. It had the most annoying sound effects ever. The dribbling sound was loud as hell, the "swish" sound was loud and as hell, and it was impossible to shoot a layup. As far as I can remember, every shot was a jumpshot.

So what was your first "must have" game?

No Halo Movie For Now, But There's Videology!

Here is a little comedy video about a guy named Gabe Sunday who tried out for a J. Lo movie, but was told he didn't have enough sexual crisma. So he tries to prove it. Here's My Sex With J. Lo:

Game Over On The Halo Movie :-(

Both Universal and Fox Studios have pulled out of the Halo movie adaptation, citing rising movie costs and concern over the inexperience of first time director Neil Blomkamp. As the budget was rumored to be edging closer to $200 million, and Microsoft getting a lion's share of the profits, the studio execs decided it was time to pull the plug.

Shocking news. We were all sure they were gonna make one. With all that Denzel playing Master Chief and everything. I'm a little upset, I was kinda looking forward to this film. Well, I agree with the budget thing, and with the director inexperience. I just hope they bring out a Splinter Cell movie, now that would rule. What do you guys think?

-Zam

Random new news about the PSTree

Today Sony had a convention called Gamer's Day, and they announced a bunch of announcements (or.. whatever).

First of all, they announced that most of the EA sports games will use the tilt controls, as will Tony Hawk 8. Much better then the originally announced one. Thumbs up there.

Sony also confirmed that certain PSP, PS2, and PS1 games will be up for download on the PS3. That's sort of awesome but I really think they could have skipped the PS2 ones since most people will still own the games. It is good news though for PSP-less people, since you'll now get around to the few good games the PSP's had.

Also announced were the prices of many things. The HDMI cable will be $50 (pretty expensive), the PS2 memory card adapter will be $15, the Sixaxis controllers will be $50 (same as the 360 ones), and the Blu-Ray remotes will be $30.

Also, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby will be packaged in the first 500,000 consoles in Blu-Ray format. No one really knows why they picked that movie..

Last but not least is the announcement of their 37% cut estimate of profits this year, from 1.1 million to 670 million. I can't say I'm surprised, if they're going to get it back it's going to be 07', no way they were going to make that much this year.

360 is getting a what? 100GB Hard drive? Party time is in order!

At the Microsoft-centric X06 Korea, some pictures of a bigger Xbox 360 hard drive have surfaced courtesy of Korean game site Game Inside. The photos appear to have been taken during a presentation hyping the new Xbox 360 accessories that are on their way, including the force feedback steering wheel, the wireless headset, and a 256MB memory card.

But what's of real interest to gamers starving for more HD space is the image of a hard drive emblazoned with the phrase "100GB." There isn't any other information on the hard drive (in English, anyway), and Microsoft has not announced anything on this side of the pond.

Wahoo. I have used all but 3GB of my 20GB hard drive on my 360 so this is very welcome to me. They might as well announce if for North America, becaues if it's coming in Korea, that's not going to be the only place. 2 questions though:

1) How expensive is this thing going to be? I mean, the 20GB is $100! I think the most they can charge really is $150, which isn't cheap, but it's not exactly expensive. That would also mean that the 20GB would probably drop down to $50-75, which is good for anyone who doesn't need the space.

2) Are we going to be able to transfer from our 20GBs to these 100GBs?

Anyway, at least this will finally stop the PS3ers bragging about how their hard drives are bigger. But it will start 360ers.. joy.

These Releases are about to Re-pop-a-cap-in-you, so watch out!

This week is the biggest week in months for releases, with something like 5 gigantic titles out, and at least a few more smaller ones.

First is Battlefield 2142 which is probably the most popular PC game of the month, and the reason I hate my weak PC. Judging by early reviews this isn't a BF2 but it's still very fun, if you can run it I suggest getting it soon as you can.

Next is another game I am personally excited about, Splinter Cell: Double Agent on the 360, which is coming out on the other consoles later this month, but the 360 version is definitely going to be the best. Even though the 360's multiplayer demo was ballsish apparently the real one is off the wall good, so be checking that out soon as possible.

Then we have a very controversial game called Bully, which somehow got dropped with a T rating even though you beat little kids senseless, and is out this week on the PS2. I don't know why anyone would really want this.. but hey.. to each his own I guess, right?

And then is the sequel to one of Zam's favorite games and one of the original GM reviews, Destroy All Humans! It's now out on the PS2 and XBOX, and supposedly is just as fun as the first. Get on to that next time you are at the game store if you're looking for a lot of fun and aliens who enjoy using probes.

Next is the sequel to the popular Flight Simulator 2004, called Flight Simulator X, which you need to be warned will only run alright if you have a very high end PC, but it has a great level of detail to it's towns and cities, with buildings and streets where they should be. Oh yeah, and you can land on buses. Which is sweeet.

Justice League: Heroes came out on the DS, XBOX, PS2, and GBA.. but I think you should probably just wait for Marvel Ultimate Alliance next week. It looks a lot better. Then again I don't know too much about JL:H...

Also a few other small titles this week came out, Age of Empires 3: The Warchiefs expansion came out for PC, The Sims 2: Pets came out on PS2 GC and PC (I have no idea how expansions work with no hard drives..), Family Guy for PS2, XBOX and PSP which looks alright.. and last Nintendogs: Dalmations which doesn't really deserve a mention but can you blame me? I liked a 101 Dalmations.. don't laugh at me.. you mean people.. go away until there's another post.. then come back and comment..

Wow, Wednesday Already, Get Website Wednesdays Is In Order

I got 3 sites for you today.

1. It's called Elgoog. It basically Google backwards. But everything is backwards. You type in a search, and it gives you the results backwards. It's pretty fun to see what you get. Tip before you use it, don't type in your word then press enter, cause that will go straight to the "I'm Feeling Lucky" option (or in this case, the "ykcuL gnileeF m'I"option.) But you can check it out HERE.

2. Next up, we got a site with funny cats. This site is a collection of pictures of cats doing funny things. One playing Solitaire on a computer, another's making a weird facial expression, things like that. It's pretty funny, and for the ladies, kinda cute. Check it out HERE.

3. Finally, the one you've all been waiting for, A PONG: Text-Based Game!!!! This is probably a first. It's a text adventure game that says what you're apponent is doing, and you make one of three decisions, to move your paddle up, keep it still, or move it done. It's actually pretty cool, check it out HERE.

Well, that's all for this addition of WW, tune in next week for more.

-Zam

We be putting the ology in Musicology

Tonight I am going to tell you about a very new band called Augustana that I found through iTunes who are very popular because of their song "Boston" right now, but I like "Stars and Boulevards" better. It just reminds me of rock and roll, but with an awesome modern twist. Also if you want an even better quality of this song, go to Yahoo Music and watch the real video, it is very awesome. Without further adu..

Playing testsies with Need For Speed: Carbon!

I absolutely loved NFSU2, but was rather disappointed with Most Wanted, and after I read an exclusive in GameInformer about Carbon, I was amped about it. Finally last week a demo came up on XBOX Live, and I got to play it. Here we go with how it's like.

In the demo you can choose from an old Charger, a Lancer, and a Lamorghini Gallardo. Once you pick you get to test out the game's customization which is called AutoSculpt or something like that. It's the coolest thing about the game, because you can mold just about every feature of your cars, and it's very hard to get 2 cars looking alike. That is the best part of this game I think..

You then can do a race and a drift, both of which are easy once you figure them out. The race is not challenging whatsoever thanks to the "squads", which are probably one of the most pointless features ever, because they stop other racers from being ahead or keep them behind you. Makes the races way too easy, when they're already very simple. It also is very hard to see anything, and you can thank blur for that. Yes they did it on purpose.

I liked the drifting a lot more, it definitely worked better then back in the days of Underground. I enjoyed that, but it really didn't make up for how bad the racing was. And I can see the fun of this wearing out quickly, as well.

Last you get to try the new Canyon race, which seemed like an awesome idea, but in reality it's nothing special. The purpose is to go down a winding canyon road, head to head, and if you hit them you lose points, if you hit the rail on the side of the road you fall off and lose, and if you pass them you win. It would work cool, if it weren't for the fact that a lot of rails that should be able to fall through, aren't, and the ones that you can are funky colored. Makes them look weird. And the problem with it is that you can go through the rail and sort of drive along the top side of the mountain, which sort of takes away from the way it's supposed to be played.. I was not impressed.

I am shocked at how this game is actually worse then Most Wanted.. check it out for a rent I guess, but I wouldn't be doing anything else with it.

SmilesD's 5 Most Overrated games of all-time

I was reading what Zam and Ton had planned this week for GM2, and there "most hated games" idea inspired this post. These might not be games I hate, but they are games I feel people get way too excited over. At they very least, they are games that were popular that I never enjoyed for whatever reason.


In no particular order, here's the list.

Grand Theft Auto (series)

If it weren't for this game, I might never have bought a PS2. Until I tried this game out, I actually was going to buy an Xbox. So I buy the PS2 and GTA III, and at first it's love at first sight. Killing people for no reason, stealing cars, doing hookers, what could be better in a game?

So then I played it for about 2 weeks nonstop, and then I realized, God damn I've been doing the same exact thing over and over again. Eventually, breaking the law and running from the police or a gang for a half hour wasn't much fun anymore.

I traded the game in, and I've never looked back. This game isn't bad, and it's not boring, it's just not the great game people swear it is. It's repetitive as hell, and no matter how many people might disagree with me, it's a game I feel is extremely overrated.

Halo

Well, not only do I think this game is overrated, but I pretty much hate it as well. I can remember playing the demo in stores back in the day and thinking, boy does this game suck. And then it ends up being popular as hell. So I figure, well it was only the demo, maybe I missed something. Lucky me, my roomate had it, so I put it in and decide to give it a go. No, I didn't miss anything. It's just as boring as the demo was.

What is so different or original about this game that makes it so special? Seriously, someone tell me, because there are about 1583 more games out there that do the same thing, and many time do it better.

Final Fantasy (series)

Here's another game that I as a gamer felt I "should" like. So I borrow one of them off my neighbor. I can't remember which one for sure, but I think it was 12. I get about 3 or 4 hours into the game, get to a flower that keeps killing me, and finally decide, this shit is played out, I'm done.

I'll give it this much. The graphics and music are awesome. The whole hitting one button to attack, and then waiting to get hit stuff sucks. If you like that type of thing, then this might be the best there is, but I just couldn't stand it. I don't understand how anyone can play a game like that. I want something fun and fast paced, not long and drawn out like this game seemed to be.

The Sims (series)

This one can be summed up in a few sentences, maybe just one. Why,oh why would you want to spend your time living a virtual life? Why do you want to go on cyber dates? Why? I don't get it

Nintendogs

This is sort of along the same lines as the Sims. Where is the fun in taking care of a virtual pet? How fun is it petting your dog, feeding it, or throwing a ball on a screen? I just don't want to do that. My time is precious. I want the game to be fun, in your face and exciting. I don't want to take care of an animal. I have a real dog to do that with, and trust me, picking up shit, and feeding a dog isn't all that exciting.

--SmilesD
Writer at Smiles That Kill

Deals or No Deals? I say Deals.

First off is a great deal from Sandisk which I have personally used, you can get a 2GB flash drive for $40, a 1GB for $20, or a 512MB for $10 with mail-in rebates. These things are freaking small too, and they glow like night-lights.

Next is a deal for a you DS gamers: Best Buy is giving $5 off on all of the Touch Generation games for the DS, which is Tetris DS, Nintendogs, the Brain Age games, and Magnetica. I suggest Tetris.

And last up is a quick deal for you 360 gamers out there, one of the good 360 games out now, Dead Rising, is on sale for $40. That's $20 off bitches! Seriously go give it a whirl if you haven't yet, the price just makes it better.

And that is your infomercial for today.

I can TWIG M 2.

What? Did I really forget TWIG M 2 yesterday? Oh right sorry about that, I was tired as a hedgehog in a blender.

Last week:

SmilesD's Top 5 Games
Google Has Munched Your Tube
Marked Down Things
Wii Preorders Last Week (not really relevant any more..)
Zam Goes Lego with Star Wars Again - LSW2 review
Musicology: John Mayer's Stop This Train
Videology isn't Riding Dirty, it's White and Nerdy
Ton's Top 5 Games
What To Buy SmilesD For His Imaginary Birthday
A Very Meh Photology
Morgan Webb is Hot
Zam's Top 5 Games
A Syphon Filter Dark Mirror review by Ton

So this week, we're going to be a little bit hyped up. Everything normal; MDM, Musicology, Videology, RR, will all be here. Oh yeah, I am thinking of not doing Photology as that did not work out too well. Anyway, D already did a previewish thing of Diddy Kong Racing for the DS, I'm going to review Battlefield 2 Modern Combat finally, and Zam is going to do a review or preview as well. Also once I get some time with it I am going to tell you about my experience with Need for Speed Carbon and Splinter Cell: Double Agent online, for those of you without a 360 with Live. That should be fun. Smiles will be doing some more of his own thing too, and Zam and I might get together our 5 most hated games ever.

Peace out you furry bunnies.

Diddy Kong Racing DS

Last week I did my Top 5 games of all time. You might remember I had Diddy Kong Racing for the N64 as number 2. Well, you can understand my excitement at learning of it's release for the Nintendo DS.

So here is a little bit about the game for you guys.

- 8 Player Single Card & multi-card wifi gaming

- Touchscreen and Microphone compatibility (I don't know what they have in mind with the mic. Maybe you have to scream at your guy and see get moving mother f!@#er to make him go faster?)

- Familiar characters, and courses(all 20 from the original game)

- Customizable vehicles

- New Weapons and challenges

- TT Wish Races (i.e. you can make your own courses)


As far as they characters are concerned, not all of them are returning. Fans of the game will remember Diddy Kong, Tiptup, Pipsy, Krunch, Timber, Drumstick, Bumper, and T.T. They'll all be back. You'll be losing Banjo and Conker, but we get a new character called Tiny Kong.

If you never played this game, trust me when I say it's great. You can compare it to Mario Kart, but add about 5 times the amount of fun. You have your traditional road courses, but you also get some water courses, and air plane courses. I put so much time into this game, and to this day I still debate going out and buying an old N64 just to play this game again.

Some other differences between Mario Kart and Diddy Kong are the boss races. There's a story to the game, and winning the races helps you get through the story. You battle characters in odd races, which is much different from Mario Kart. There are also missions that have nothing to do with racing. You have battles where you drive around with 3 balloons and do your best to bust your competitors before they bust you.

If you've had even one second of fun with Mario Kart, give this game a shot. You won't be disappointed. As far as I know, December 1st is the release date.

--SmilesD
Writer at Smiles That Kill

Syphon Filter Dark Mirror review.:..:..:::.::.:!

Among all the junk the PSP has, there is one really really really super game called Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror. No no, not Splinter Cell Essentials. That game sucks. Let me tell you why it’s so good.

If you’ve never played Syphon Filter before it is essentially Sony’s less popular version of Splinter Cell. Let’s start with the good. Hell there is no bad. First of all, the controls are the best thing this side of the nubberly nub. The nubble is used to walk around, and the 4 buttons are used to turn in different directions. Then you can zoom or lock on with left trigger, and all of the other commands are on the d-pad. GREAT use of the PSP’s stuff.

Second of all, the single player is gigantimongous, with 8 chapters of 3 or 4 missions each. You play through them each in about 15-20 minutes if you don’t screw up, and they are all different kinds of missions. You can get all these unlockables for doing certain stuff, and each one lets you have more health, new abilities, or new guns you can start with. It’ll take you for freaking ever to get everything.

Next of all is the guns, which is probably the biggest set I have seen in a LONG time. I think the website had 56 listed in all, from mini-grenade launchers to shotgun pistols. Also if you get a certain award you can dual wield pistols, which is a useful ability. You can melee in this too, with either a choke or a knife. Oh yeah, and you can tazer people too. Sadly it’s not for their pleasure. It’s for barbeque. I guess you could give them some though.. even though they're the barbeque..

What I’m really itching to talk about here is the multiplayer, which is better then most console games. You can play with 8 people on deathmatch, team deathmatch, objective games, or rogue agent. The only one to describe is rogue agent, which has one person trying to survive as long as they can with everyone else against them. That one’s not too popular. What makes this so cool is the fact that it’s portable, and it still has full clan support, buddy lists, ignore lists, message boards, chat, and all, on a portable game! It still amazes me after this long..

And there are ranks and medals too, with 2 medals for 7 or 8 skills, and at each level you get a new item relating to the thing you got the shiny medal in. At each rank you get to brag that you’re up a level, and you get a new gun or two. That’s one of the coolest things, leveling up and then partying about it for an hour.

In the actual battles there are ziplines, hidden rocket launchers, grenade launchers, rifles, and all sorts of funky things. You can set up traps for your enemies like laser mines and turning on fires that block their way through hallways. It’s really hard to put into words why the multiplayer is so fun, it just is awesome. One thing: if you work as a team you will pwndizzle them, because you can heal team mates and revive them once they die.

Oh yeah, and the graphics are very good. I think probably as good as the PSP is going to get. Getting roasted with a tazer looks very good.

But the one downside is actually in the multiplayer, and it comes in the form of only 6 maps. Even though they are nice and big, and very well designed, it's still sort of boring to play 6 over and over again. Hopefully they'll release some new ones for download... (please Sony I'll pay you)

I wish I could tell you why this is awesome, but it’s just like when Yoda says “Good, yes?” It’s good because it is but you don’t know why. I’m going to shut up and score it. Guess what, it’s getting my coveted 5 people tazering themselves out of 5 because I still play it like it’s my life after having it for months. Go on, get it. You know you want to use your PSP for something good for once, instead of looking at pr0n on the browser.

Zam's Top 5 Best Games Of All Time

Here is my list of the top 5 best games of all time!

5. Ms. Pac-Man

Now the first one was good, but this one was, in my opinion, much better. I just think that the graphics and the environments are much better. And what is better than having a pizza missing a slice with a bow eating a bunch of pellets while being chased by some freaky ghosts looking things? It is definitely one of those games that if you see it in an arcade, you have to pop a quarter or two in a play a game. Definitely, one of the top 5 ones.



4. Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic

This game was definitely the best RPG I have ever played in my life. This game is so awesome, it's crazy. So many paths you can go on, so many cool weapons, so many cool characters. There are so many cool things about this game, I just can't name them all. But everyone needs to pick this up and play it. Now its $20 or less, that kicks ass.





3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Everyone knows why this game is so great. First of all, all the thing you can do. You can pretty much get any car, do anything you want, at anytime. Secondly, all the cheats there are. You can get so many weapons, and all this great stuff. Thirdly, all the things you use for weapons, they have everything from wrenches, to baseball bats, to a woman's pleasure toy. It is friggin hilarious. Definitely and awesome game.





2. Lego Star Wars I & II

I don't know how I'm gonna transition from GTA to Lego Star Wars, but I'll try. Lego Star Wars I & II are definitely one of the coolest and most fun games I have ever played. I didn't know what to expect when I first picked it up, but damn, was it one of the best games I've ever played.
I guess this is why they both got a 5 out of 5. I I still find it amazing how they made a game like this, where everything is made of Lego's. And also they're coming out with Lego Batman soon, and I can't wait for that. So man, if you haven't played this, go out and get it NOW!





1. Super Mario World

I don't know what it is about this game and me. It might be the fact that I used to play it non-stop as a kid, or all the secrets, or I don't know. But it must be a really great game if you beat is over 150 times (which I did) and you still are finding things you never found before. That just shows a great game. This is one of the games that made the SNES, and I can see why. This game is definitely one of the best, if not, the best. In my top 5 at least.





Well, like Ton did, I guess I'll tell you the games I'm looking forward to.

5. Grand Theft Auto 4
4. Lego Batman
3. Anything on the Wii
2. Halo 3
1. Splinter Cell: Double Agent

Morgan Webb in a bikini

This is one of the reasons I miss my subscription to FHM. I enjoyed looking at pictures of Morgan as the Gaming Goddess every month. I can't stand listening to her anymore on X-Play(her, and that show in general have become extremely annoying and corny), but looking at her will never become a hard thing to do.

--SmilesD
Writer at Smiles That Kill

Someone somewhere must REALLY hate me.

Well, I am pissed off at computers once again. I had Release Recap made up, nice and medium length, pictures in, and what do you know, I go to publish it, Firefox friggen crashes. Not only does Firefox crash, but so does Notepad where I had it written.

Someone somewhere must really hate me. Someone who has a big switch sitting in front of them that says 'Ton's computer work' and 'Ton's computer will now suck total ass'. Well I think it's stuck on the 2nd one right now...

I guess I'll get you Release Recap tomorrow, because now it's just too dang late and I don't feel like re-writing it right now anyway. Oh yeah and if I get time I guess I will get to that Syphon Filter review, or maybe Saturday morning... deskisions, deskisions.

And by the way, whoever you are that hates me, I hate you too man. :)

Photology is finally here sort of kind of a little bit yeah.

So, that is my sad attempt at something remotely interesting. Actually it would be a lot cooler if I had more time, and if Blogger wasn't being a bitch. The fact the template's small doesn't help either. I had a bunch of other pictures that were cool, including some by myself, but they wouldn't upload right.

Oh well.. I will try harder next week..

The "get me" games of October

Xbox 360
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Tiger Woods PGA Tour '07
Splinter Cell:Double Agent

Nintendo DS
Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning
Justice League Heroes

PS2
NHL 2K7
Destroy All Humans 2
Splinter Cell:Double Agent
Devil May Cry Greatest Hits Set
Need For Speed Carbon


These are the games that I'd get if money were no object. Unfortunatly it is, and I'll only be getting Justice League Heroes for the DS. What recent or soon to be releases are you eager to get your hands on?

--SmilesD
Writer at Smiles That Kill

Ton's Top 5 Games Of All-Time

Like Doug did on Monday, today I'm going to tell you what my top 5 games ever are!

#5: Pokemon Yellow - You can say all you want about Pokemon, but I think this is probably the game I got the most absorbed in in the history of gaming. Not only did I play the game like a religion, but I got into the cards, and went to some tournaments. The problem is like almost anything else, when you get too much, you eventually start to hate it. So now, Pokemon is just a fond memory that I will never go back to.

#4: Spyro - This was the first game I ever got on the PS1, which was when I really started gaming. If I remember correctly this was the only game I had for a very long time, and I think I played this for 2 years quite a lot and never actually beat it. It may not have been the best game ever, but it's got something special with me for all the play time I gave it.

#3: Battlefield 2: Modern Combat - This is the newest game on the list, and I usually wouldn't consider putting something this new on a list of my favorite of all time, but out of all of my recent console games, this is the one that I haven't stopped playing since the release. Just a sign of how much I really enjoy this game is how I bought it on the PS2, then the XBOX, and now I have it on the 360. It was this game that made me realize how important it is to work as a team, in war and in games. I'm sure I've logged over 250 hours in this game through the different platforms. It's not as big of a milestone as the other games on this list, but I haven't gotten so excited about using tactics before, and then so pissed off when I make a wrong move.

#2: Super Smash Bros. Melee - Since 2002, this game has been the coolest party game in the history of forever. I play it a minimum of 10 hours a month, and even more when I get a bunch of people together. The thrill of getting whacked up against the screen with a basball bat by your friend is so cool, and I wish I knew why. The other reason this game is so special to me is not only do I love it, but my girlfriend does too, and it's very rare to find a game that we both enjoy so much, and can spend so much time on together. Bring it on, Brawl.

#1: Legend of Zelda The Ocarina of Time - Yep any surprise here? The story with this game is back when Windwaker came, I got this as a preorder thing for the Gamecube. I had never played a Legend of Zelda game before. After playing this through, on original, and Master Quest, I rebought an N64, NES, and SNES, and went on eBay for every single Zelda game I could find. And I enjoyed every minute of them. All of them. I can't thank OOT enough for making me the Zelda fanboy I am today.

And as a bonus I will give a quick list of the 5 games I'm looking forward to the most...

#5 Super Smash Bros. Brawl
#4 Rainbow Six: Vegas
#3 Battlefield: Bad Company
#2 Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
#1 Assassin's Creed

Wow, Videology RULES!

For this weeks videology, we have the newest in song parodies. Definitely on of the most if not the most famous artist with song parodies is Weird Al Yankovic. On eof his newest songs is a parody of Chamillionare's "Ridin". It's called "White and Nerdy". I know about three fourths of you guys have already heard this song and the hype a ton of times, but can you believe some people haven't? :-0 . Well for those people, here is the great music video:

Musicolology is with John Mayer this week GM2ers, so get reading!

Yep that is right, I'm going to give you a song from John Mayer's new CD, Continuum this week. After SmilesD recommending him to me, I picked up the CD last week at Circuit City and let me tell you, it is the greatest thing since sliced lemonade. Wait what..? Anyway, I'm not going to tell you about the single, Waiting on the World To Change, you've probably heard that, and I don't think it's the best song on the CD anyway. The one you're about to listen to is #7, called Stop This Train, and it's slightly slower then the single, but it shows how smoothly John can switch between his regular voice and the higher pitched voice he uses a lot, how well he can play guitar, and how good the writing is on this CD. It talks about how life goes by too fast and he wishes he could stop it even though he knows it's not going to happen. HEY how about I shut up and let the music talk?

So here is Stop This Train, by John Mayer. It'll be up there for a week, and please just listen to it a few times then delete it. Buy the CD if you really like it, guys.

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy Review!

A few day ago, in a place that's not too far....



GAMER MANIA 2
REVIEW


Episode II
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy Review

I was alone on night on my PS2 not doing much. Then I looked up at my PS2 game collection and saw the cover to one of my favorite games of all time, Lego Star Wars. I thought, man, what a game; if only there was another one. But then I hear a croaky voice.

It was little Lego Yoda, and he said "Strong with Lego Star Wars you are, Lego Star Wars II, play you must." "After play, write review for GM2 you also must." So I said, "Of course Lego Yoda" and here's the review........



Yes, the review to the sequel of the FIRST GAME EVER reviewed on GM2 is now here. (Lego Star Wars Review). Now Lego Star Wars got our highest review of 5 out of 5, but can Lego Star Wars II live up to that? Well I'll tell you........after this commercial break. Just kidding, I'm not gonna pull a Seacrest on you. I'm really gonna tell you......at the end of the review. Anyway, the rest of the review.

Let's start with the story. Basically, you play through the original three Star Wars movies (Episode IV, V, & VI). You play as a lot of the characters in LEGO form of course. Each episode has 6 chapters. But unlike the first game, these chapters are nice and long. And all of the environments and characters (basically everything) is made of LEGOs. The chapters all start out with that famous Star Wars scrolling thing that tells the story of it. And it has the famous Star Wars theme too.

The graphics are really good for Lego's. It's amazing how if you go buy a set of a Star Wars ship and build it, it's built probably exactly like in the game. I think it's cool how they can do that. But it's really awesome.

You unlock the good guys in every level, but the other guys, you have to buy once you either see them in a cut scene, or defeat them. It's kinda costly, but kinda worth it in Free Play Mode (which you unlock after you beat that level/chapter). You also have to buy vehicles. That kinda stinks. (By the way, in my opinion, Boba Fett and Han Solo kick the most ass in this game.) Oh, and also, you can customize two of your own characters, but what I found is you can only play them in Free Play, but its pretty cool.

Like in the first one, you have to collect studs and 10 minikits in each level. The minikits build stuff, and the studs are used to buy things at the store.

A new thing is there thought. There's now gold and red blocks. There's one red block in each level, and about 4 possible gold blocks in each level. There are different places in the lobby of the game (Mos Esley Cantina) which can build passageways. Mostly, a challenge mode for the levels. It's pretty hard, but pretty cool.

The cut scenes are good and very humerous. So they're very enjoyable.

So overall, the game is definitely as good as the first one, if not better. If you played the first game, go get up and drive down to your local game store, and pick this one up. If you haven't played the first one, JUMP UP, AND DRIVE AS FAST AS YOU CAN WITHOUT BREAKING THE LAW TO YOUR LOCAL GAME SHOP AND HAVE THE CASHIER SMACK YOU A FEW TIMES, THEN BUY BOTH! Ok, so everyone who needs some good fun, pick this one up. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy gets 5 Lego Jedi's enjoying the sight of Lego Slave Leia, out of 5.

-Zam

Wii preorders may start this week

According to Joystiq and one if it's insiders, EB and Gamestop may be taking preorders by the end of this week for the Wii. I was wondering when this was going to start. I'm still debating whether I want to get it on the release date, or wait until Xmas time. It's not that I don't want it right away, it's just that I'm not sure if I have the money.

PS3 preorders started today. Was anyone lucky enough to get their order in? I bet it was a madhouse at the EBs and Gamestops across the land.

Back to the Wii for a second though. I also learned today that the Wii remote runs in to trouble when the sun gets in the way. If this is true, I hope they can get it fixed ASAP. It won't be a problem for me, but for some people avoiding the sun where they game might not be an option.

Lastly, if you think I'm sexy, and you really want me, come on hunny let me know. In other words, let's get some commenting going on around these parts. It'd make things much more lively.

-SmilesD
Writer at Smiles That Kill
Today's feature, Model Toni Leigh

We're giving you rolled back prices and we're not Walmart, so suck it Wally World!

Deal #1 is on something a bit outdated but if you don't mind the fact that they're 5G instead of the new 5.5 ones, Overstock has got White 30GB iPods for $210. So you might not get the new bright screen and all, but you save $40.. so that's worth checking out. The Linkitization is right here.

Deal Numero 2 is a gigantic SD Memory card for $28. Oh yeah, by 'gigantic' I mean 2GB!!!!! Those things usually cost like.. $40-50. So this is a great deal guys if you need memory. You have been linked up like sausage links.

And here's a very nice deal on a good game - The Prince of Persia Warrior Within for only $4! I'm actually going to have to use this as I have Sands of Time and for $4 I can't pass up this one. Here's a link to the XBOX version but I bet it's the same for all of the versions if you look.

And the last deal of the night is for if you're looking for an mp3 player a bit smaller then the iPod I had up top. You can get the $200 Sandisk Sanza 2GB Mp3 player (which is nice and tiny and a good player from what I've heard) for just $110 on Amazon. So if you want some tunes in a stick go on and click here.. you know you want to.

ALERT!: Google Has Bought YouTube, This Is Not A Drill, Google Has Bought YouTube

Google Inc., the most-used Internet search engine, agreed to buy YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion, adding the largest video-sharing site on the Web and an audience that watches more than 100 million clips a day.

It's true. I seriously would have never suspected that Google, who has their OWN video service, bought another video service. But it really is a great move, as their stock went up about $10 today alone. They're probably not going to change YouTube, it's pretty much just for the money (in my opinion). But wow, for $1.65 Billion! Now that's a buy. But, there's great news.

Google & YouTube have just signed on with some major record companies to be able to show high-quality music videos, instead of those ripped ones fans put up. Now thats GREAT. Finally we can watch our music in good quality for free (I hope). So look out for those.

-Zam

SmilesD's Top 5 Favorite Games of All-Time

Here are my 5 favorite game of all-time listed in descending order:

5. Tecmo Bowl

This was the first game I was ever truly obsessed with. You couldn't beat the Chicago Bears on there. Walter Payton, Willie Gault, The Fridge, McMahon, Singletary, they were all there. I remember keeping my stats in the cheap ass tablets they used to give us at school. I had pages, and pages of stats from playing that game nonstop. And not just for months, but for years. That was the great thing about Nintendo. You didn't have remakes of game every year. You really got your dollar back when you bought a good Nintendo game. It was around forever.

4. Super Mario Bros. 3

What a great game! I loved this game. I loved the frog Mario, the squirrel Mario, finding the whistles, everything. Of all the NES Mario Bros. games, this was the best.




3. Super Mario 64

Oddly enough, this was the first game to ever come out for the N64, and in many people's eyes, the best. This is a game I can still play to this very day, and rarely does a game entice me to do that anymore. I love the controls, the look, everything about it. Usually, once I complete a mission, I never go back to it. Mario 64 had me going back to repeat missions for years. I still get enjoyment out of this on my DS.

2. Diddy Kong Racing

I love this game. When this comes out for the DS, I'll be the first one buying this bad boy. I can still remember renting it during Christmas break way back when. The levels in this game were great. You flew planes, raced boats, raced cars. You had it all. Even boss battles. Even the two player mode was great. I loved battling my brother, either racing or trying to shoot him and blow up his ballons. Great, great game.

1. Metal Gear Solid

This was the first game I ever played where you actually had to be smart to finish it. No longer where you running around with reckless abandon shooting at everything in your site. No, in this game, stealth was what it was all bout. This was a game of patience and smarts. I'm sure some will say other games have come out that are better, but this was the first of it's kind for me, and it will always be the best.

What are you all-time favorites?

--SmilesD
Writer at Smiles That Kill
Today's feature, Playboy's Mandy Lynn