I listen to a lot of podcasts these days, so I can’t remember on which one I heard it on, but on the topic of Microsoft wanting to branch out into the casual market, with Rare leading the way, someone said something to the effect that Rare is not exactly a family friendly game studio.  They have a strange sense of style.  Take Viva Pinata.  It was heavily marketed towards kids, but the people really enjoying it are adults that “get” the game, if you know what I mean. 

The other argument I hear is that Xbox Live Arcade is the vehicle to get casual gamers onboard 360.  Well, that just seems silly to me.  I mean, who’s going to buy a $300 system to play Hexic HD, and if Hexic HD is targeted towards the mothers and sisters of hardcore gamer, how does that expand the installed base?  That guy was going to buy the system anyways.

Getting to the point, I don’t generally consider myself an anti-Xbox, pro-PlayStation gamer.  In fact, if you were to bash the 360 in front of me, I’d be perfectly capable of standing up for the system.  Yet here I am, writing a blog almost entirely on PS3.  It might have something to do with the fact that there’s just a lot of PS3 hate out there, so I feel like I have to defend it, but mostly, I’m just more excited about the games coming to Sony’s machine.  more…

Another week of great deals for the Xbox 360. This week, Play-Asia.com brings us Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 for only $17.90. This is the Asian region version so it contains both English and Chinese subtitles; however, it’ll only work on Japanese or other Asian region systems. Shame. When are they going to give us some non-region specific deals, eh?

A lot of people say this game is too easy. Others call it soft-shell prawn, if you get my meaning. Both valid, but my biggest problem with the DOA Xtreme series is the treatment of the characters. These are cool girls; ninjas, assasins, billionare empire heiress, etc. Sure, they’re some more carefree girls, but for the most part I find it really unlikely that a women would stay to lounge around and play beach volleyball with her mother’s killer. more…

Play-Asia’s deal for the week is Blue Dragon for $20.

Yeah, that Blue Dragon. The Xbox 360 game that actually brought up system sales in Japan. The game from the creator of Final Fantasy, the creator of Dragonball, and the composer of the Final Fantasy games.

It’s too bad that the game is only compatible with Japanese, Asian or “suped up” (read: modded) 360s, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this right now. If you have a special 360, hit up Play-Asia by clicking the picture. Your welcome.

I love that this new era of game consoles lets us try before we buy. Crackdown is going to rock! If open-world games (Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row) are all about freedom, then Crackdown adds a whole new level of it, namely, freedom of movement. I’d say this game is Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction with guns and then some. A skills level up system lets your character eventually leap over buildings and such, like:

Agility: Run like the wind and leap skyscrapers. Yeah. Awesome.

Strength: Chuck trucks around. Think about it.

Marksmanship: I guess you can target specific body parts faster. Not that exciting, yet. (Probably)

Explosives: Ever see a game that lets you actually stun people by hitting them in the head with a well thrown grenade? It really makes it harder for them to run away. Blast radius increases as you level up.

Driving skill: Agent(that’s you) cars get faster and easier to handle. What’s cool is the cars physically change, like Transformers or Cyber Formula cars, as you level up, right before your eyes.

Check out the trailer by hitting the, “read the rest of this entry,” link, and if none of this peaks your interest, don’t forget that the initial shipment of Crackdown comes with Halo 3 beta invitations.

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The drought sure ended fast with Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions coming out so soon after the holiday season. It seems that the old model of only releasing blockbuster games in the last months of the year is slowly becoming less and less relevant.

So why are we excited about Lost Planet, you ask? First of all, it’s a really good looking game. The details in everything are just amazing. The snow looks especially nice, which is good since you’ll see a lot of it. See, the game takes place on a frozen planet inhabited by these bug like creatures that secrete this stuff that your protective suit can use for heat energy to heal you and keep you from freezing to death.

If that strange sci-fi setting doesn’t excite you, the gameplay will. more…