Sony Slash PlayStation 2 Prices

With the PlayStation 3 launching in November (hopefully), Sony has decided to slash the rates of the PS2 by about 20$, bringing its price down to 129$. Sony hopes this price cut will give this aging, yet extremely healthy console a big sales boost. Many expected the price of the PS2 to go below the 100$ mark, since Nintendo's Gamecube is priced at around 99$, but Sony reps don't think the Gamecube is that much of a threat.

Even though the PS2 isn't the most powerful console known to mankind, developers are churning out some AAA titles left, right and center on it. Some of 2007's most anticipated games, like God of War 2 are to be PS2 exclusive titles. This goes to show that the PS2 has a long way to go.

Delta Force Black Hawk Down

Novalogic and Vivendi Universal today announced that they’re planning on bring Delta Force Black Hawk Down: Team Sabre to the PS2 sometime in November 2006. Team Sabre was released as an expansion for Back Hawk Down on PCs, but it’ll be a stand alone on the PS2 and here’s what you can expect in the game:

Two All-New Single-Player Campaigns: Embark on 11 challenging missions through treacherous South American jungles and across the high deserts of Iran.

New Weapons, Squad Commands & Characters: Select from 24 weapons to maximize your effectiveness in battle, including two never before seen weapons in the Black Hawk Down series; the MK-23 SOCOM and the L115A sniper rifle.

New Multiplayer Warfare: Join in the action in intense fire fights with up to 32 players online and seven unique game types including new variants and old classics.

Urban Chaos: Riot Response

The name Urban Chaos sure brings back fond memories. Mucky Foot’s free roaming action game (long before Grand Theft Auto ruled the genre) kicked some serious ass, but due to lackluster sales was deemed a commercial failure. It just so happens, Eidos were the publishers of that game too, so when I heard they were bringing back a game called Urban Chaos: Riot Response (UC:RR), I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, Riot Response is no sequel (spiritual or other) to the game, but it still manages to breathe some fresh air into the over-used FPS genre.

In Riot Response, players will step into the boots of Nick Mason, a T-Zero operative, who’s returned to his hometown to find it overrun by the Burners, a gang of psychos who appeared from nowhere to destroy the city. Your goal in the game is to bring order to the streets and clean up all the filth by using any means necessary. Brutally entertaining violence and loads of riot shield bashing ensue…

Unlike Urban Chaos (1999), Riot Response is a first person shooter and thanks to some extremely user-friendly controls, plays like one perfectly. You’ll start off with a pistol and a riot shield initially, but later on you’ll get to wield some impressive firepower like the sawed-off shotgun, pump action shotgun, dual Uzis and melee weapons like a stun-gun (which is the only way to arrest some one without killing them), machetes, chainsaws and more. The weapons in this game may not be as detailed as those of Black, but they pack a mean punch (and by mean I mean bloody and chunky). A well timed headshot from the shotgun will result in a beautiful (slow mo) explosion of blood and brain-matter as a result of which you may find yourself sticking to that gun through most of the game (I know I did).

Rockstar in Trouble... Again

One superstition I remember my mom telling me about was that you would be plagued by seven years of bad luck if you broke a mirror at home. If that holds true, Rockstar must have lost count of the amount of mirrors they must have broken as these guys are just ploughed by bad luck ever since they tasted success with the GTA series.

After the hot coffee scandal died down, they faced flack for Bully, their free roaming high school sim that put you in the shoes of a young boy named Jimmy Hopkins whose sole aim was to survive a year in Bullworth Academy, one of America’s worst boarding schools. Just when they thought their game wouldn't be released, lady luck smiled upon them and the game did get released in America after judge Ronald Friedman ruled in favor of this game .

And just when they thought they could take it easy, they're screwed again. Why? Maybe it's because they involved 'boy-on-boy' action in a Teen rated game? Ok, so it's not that graphic. But in the game, when Jimmy Hopkins approaches a tall, blond boy with some flowers, the boy says, "I'm hot. You're hot. Let's make out." This move has made a lot of gay communities fans of the developer, but it's sent a lot of parents into a frantic tizzy. Here's what one disgruntled parent had to say on site Gamespot.com, "I can't have my kids playing this game. This is morally reprehensible. GTA (Grand Theft Auto) is a real man's game, Bully is a disgrace."

Will the game be sued by half of America? Will this game be taken off stands? Will it get an 'M' rating now? Stay tuned...

God of War 2 Demo Soon

God of War 2 will be out for the PS2 by March 2007 (let's hope there aren't any more delays) and the game's developers are planning on giving you a small slice of Greek Mythology with a demo that's expected soon.


We are going to be breaking off the demo code pretty soon and tuning the final tuning pass on the demo level so that is pretty damn exciting. It means that those of you who emailed earlier about the demo will soon be holding your sweet copy of the God of War 2 Demo&looking all bad ass and glistening in the sun&the demo...not you. Of course if you choose to oil yourself up before playing the demo that is your business...I am not here to judge," said the game's director (not Dave Jaffe).

For more on the game, kindly head over to our preview here.
http://www.tech2.com/india/previews/games-ps2/god-of-war-ii/2969/0

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent

Even though we may appear clinically insane at times—don’t worry we’re not totally off our rockers yet —and the only reason we’re reviewing the PS2 version of Splinter Cell Double Agent is because unlike most ports, this is an entirely new game and is no where nearly as crappy as its PC counterpart. Like I’ve mentioned nearly a thousand times before, the PC version of Double Agent was plagued by all sorts of problems so I took it upon myself to pick up the current gen version to satiate my hunger for some stealthy espionage goodness.



As far as the game’s core story goes, it’s still the same as it’s next gen and PC counterpart; Sam Fisher’s daughter has been killed in an unfortunate and tragic accident so with nothing to live for, he undertakes a mission no sane agent would and that would be bringing down a highly diabolical terrorist organization called John Brown’s Army, AKA the JBA. Besides the story, certain gameplay mechanics like pleasing both sides is still maintained here; only different is that the interactive moral dilemmas (remember those moments when you were made to shoot an innocent man to provide your bad-assness?) which were pretty intense in the next gen version have been toned down a bit here.


And that ladies and gentlemen is pretty much where most of the similarities end, and Double Agent for the PS2 feels a lot less like a port and more like a direct successor (which it actually is) to Chaos Theory. The first and perhaps the most obvious difference between both versions is unlike the next gen version, missions in the PS2 version only take place at night and this takes the gameplay back to the "move in the shadows" territory (something I definitely prefer). As far as mission variety goes, there are tons on new missions in here (that’s why I said it’s like a brand new game) and a lot of the missions from the next gen version are here, only a bit differently (night instead of day). A lot of Sam’s moves and gadgets (why wasn’t the finger scanner there in next gen versions?) that were omitted in the next gen version have re-appeared here and certain activities like hacking are totally different on the PS2 (and it’s a lot better mind you).

Burnout Dominator

All those who’ve been with us for a while should know I’m a complete Burnout whore and will lap up anything Burnout. Even though I never got to play the first two Burnout games, I played Takedown for nearly a year (yes, I loved it that much) and was quick to follow the obsession up with Revenge for another year on the PS2 as well as the Xbox 360




Every one knew this series would make the transition to next gen consoles one day and as expected, Criterion’s Alex Ward confirmed the development of a next gen Burnout for the PS3 as well as the Xbox 360. I was beyond elated when I heard this since I’m fortunate enough to own 360 but what off all the people who owned only the PS2? Would this be the end for the Burnout franchise for them?
Well apparently not since the lads at Criterion are a pretty considerate bunch and have released the final current gen Burnout title exclusively for the PS2 and the PSP. Enter Burnout Dominator...


Yes, it’s awesome and yes, it’s time to rejoice but there are some things you need to know before you dive into the game headfirst. First and foremost, traffic checking has been removed; that’s right folks, cry all you want, no more slamming into cars traveling in the same direction; it’s all about driving like a maniac WITHOUT hitting traffic now. The reason Criterion decided to axe this feature from Dominator is probably because after Revenge many fans of the series felt the series had become too simple and so they’ve gone ahead and listened to those whiners for a change. This may disappoint lots and I know tons of people from work who were really put off by this, but I for one find the game a lot more challenging now since it’s like Takedown all over again.

GTA vice city

Even though Vice City Stories (VCS) was well received for the PlayStation Portable, the transition to the PS2 hasn’t been a pleasant one. Sure it’s a Grand Theft Auto game and offers everything you’ve come to expect from a GTA game, but after playing San Andreas, the last great GTA game for the PS2, Vice City Stories for the PS2 feels like a tremendous step down and is beyond disappointing.

Part of this disappointment stems from the fact that this game looks downright hideous after games like Gears of War, Lost Planet and Fight Night Round 3. And even if you weren’t used to next generation visuals the game still looks uglier than most PS2 games out there since Rockstar have blindly ported the PSP version to the big screen.


The other part comes from the fact that even though this was a GTA game it still wasn’t fun to play. For starters, the protagonist of this game is perhaps the most boring lead to grace a Grand Theft Auto game ever; even the mute from GTA III was better than this whining little "look at me I’m a good guy forced to do bad things" bitch. I mean come on, you give us Tommy "the badass" Vercetti and Carl "gangsta" Johnson and then we have this turd who keeps trying to win the crowd’s sympathy but fails miserably; seriously dude if you need the money just STFU, sell those drugs, and do some while you’re at it too; it’ll ease your pain.

Other than the above mentioned points, the game plays out like any other GTA game; only the story isn’t as entertaining like previous games. VCS takes place a couple of years before the events of Vice City and puts you in the morally confused boots of Vic Vance, brother of Lance Vance Dance (Vice City). Vic starts the game off as a soldier who’s forced to partake in shady operations since he needs the money to help his sick brother out but pretty soon, the illegal odd jobs he performs for his drug and hooker loving sergeant gets him expelled from the army after which he takes to the streets and does what it takes to survive.

Mr. Bean Game Announced

Britain's (painfully annoying) funny man, Mr. Bean is all set to get the video game treatment as developer Blast! have announced a deal that'll allow them to develop a Bean game for the PS2




Mr.Bean on PlayStation 2 will be made up of 3D levels avoiding tricky traps and problem solving along the way to find his missing Teddy with the help of Bean's girlfriend Irma Gobb. 92% of children under 11 are great Mr.Bean fans and 67% of children under 11 watch the TV series regularly, according to Film Audience Research and the game will be developed to specifically target this younger audience.

Is it just me or is this guy just not funny?

God of War 2 Secret Site Unfolds HD Mode

On the secret 'Island of Rhodes' website revealed in God of War 2, fans were rewarded with commentary videos from the game's Director. One thing that was overlooked on the website previously, was that upon digging deeper there was a hidden code which would allow you to unlock a higher-resolution mode for the game (480p to be precise), allowing it to look much sharper on HDTVs. The code is as follows:

L1 + L2 + L3 + Square + Circle

In addition to the code, a countdown was revealed that asks gamers to wait for 11 more days to find out about 'God of War: Ch'

For more info on the game, check out Avinash's Review.

[Via 1up.com]