So, I’m actually really enjoying my Playstation Plus subscription. I suppose you’re pretty much in bonus territory when you sign up for the two games you get in month 1.

The content for month 3 (1 September to 30th September 2010) has been announced.

Games
Sam and Max: Devil’s Playground (entire season)
Vector Tower Defense (minis)
Echoes (minis)
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee (PS one Classic)

Full Game Trials
Warhawk (Plus exclusive 50% discount for Plus members on purchase)
Inferno Pool

Special Offers
LittleBigPlanet: Ico and Shadow of Colossus costume pack – 50%
Metal Gear Solid (PS one Classic) – 50%
Warhawk – 50%
PixelJunk Shooter – 20%

Premium Game Downloads
Exclusive UFC Undisputed 2010 downloads

Dynamic themes and Premium Avatars
Exclusive PlayStation Move theme
Exclusive Fish Tank theme
EyePet Blue Goalie Avatar
EyePet DJ Avatar

I’m pretty stoked about the full game downloads.  I was intrigued by Sam & Max when I last played it back in 2006 and an entire season seems like excellent value.  It also suits my ultra-casual gaming habit.  I also happen to love tower defense games and this one reviewed well.

PS+ continues to not be for everyone, but having sunk my money in, I’m still glad I did.

Posted in Gaming, Playstation 3, Playstation Plus | | No Comments »

My back’s a little sore at the moment, so I’ve been making the most of an excuse not to get out in the garden during the precious hours when Liv’s asleep.

Hence I had a pretty slack weekend and probably ended up playing more PS3 games in a weekend than ever before…

Friday night Megan was out with a friend and I played a little bit of Wipeout HD and Resistance 2.  I got Wipeout HD free with Playstation + (which I bought essentially because I’m one of the apparently very rare individuals who haven’t played Wipeout HD and Little Big Planet (and want to)) and I’m really enjoying it, though some of the levels seem fairly challenging.

On Saturday I ended up finishing Resistance 2 after really enjoying it.  I had ditched Resistance 1 having not played it, but kept Resistance 2 at the advice of a friend Rob.  It didn’t engage me as much as other shooters but I would have it on my ‘should play’ list.

On Saturday I also played Rock Band with some friends, which is always good (almost violent disagreement on the quality of one song aside).

Sunday kicked off with a too early morning (despite making my poor wife get up to our young’un).   At the decided sleep-in ending time, Liv wanders in and in a single breath and about two seconds tells me; “Get up, clothes on, shoes on, toast on.”  I think the world’s loudest, shrillest alarm clock would have seemed less intense, but I’m not complaining.

Anyway, later on in the rainy afternoon I played some Skate 2 (almost finished with all the single player achievements (I’m trying to get 100%)) and in the evening I roped Megan into playing Little Big Planet cooperatively.

This turned out to be a great move.  I knew that if I could get Megan through the early stages, she would get into it as she had spent many many hours obsessing over New Super Mario Bros. on the DS.  Co-op is great fun because essentially only one of you actually has to get through an obstacle.  Once you get through and past a checkpoint, the other play can just spawn from the checkpoint.   We were finding quite often that one of us (Meg included) would get through and the other one couldn’t.  This takes a lot of the frustration out of games like this.

It’s also rare that Megan and I have chances to cooperate in the real world on the same task (most tasks are distributed individually) so it was fun to work together.

So while many of my readers will be thinking, “What a waste of time,” I will choose to use the age old excuse for gamers, “It’s better use of my time than watching Coronation Street”.

Posted in Gaming | | No Comments »

I like to keep  an eye on the games coming out of Wellington based developer Sidhe Interactive, since on a number of times I have talked with guys there about working for them.  In fact ‘my guy’ Jos get’s a shoutout in the pretty positive 1up preview of their latest game, Speed Racer.

It’s a movie tie-in racing game about a series I’ve never heard about.  The game seems kind of cool, and is awesomely going to be just the second game to use the Wii wheel (after Mario Kart) and the first third party developer to do it.

So I suppose if you’re into the animated series you might buy it, and if you’re a kiwi (and it’s any good) you should pick it up.   After all, we need to “buy New Zealand made”.

Posted in Gaming | | No Comments »

Having moved from playing Guitar Hero in shops, to playing it at a friend’s house, I’m a step closer to buying it (the main issue being that I don’t own a console to play it on).

It’s always been a puzzle to me why there have been so few (if any) U2 songs in the games. So I went to google.

Turns out there is a rumour of a Guitar Hero “U2 Version”.

After reading through February’s EGM, I noticed a little tidbit about a rumored Guitar Hero sequel featuring a band that “rocks in mysterious ways”. Give up?

Think 1991. Think Achtung Baby. It can only be U2.

EGM was right about Guitar Hero Rock the 80s, so Guitar Hero U2 Edition might really be in the works. If there’s been one band that I’ve been waiting to see in Guitar Hero (or Rock Band) it is hands down, U2.

This made my heart beat a little faster. If this happened, it would totally be a system seller for me. Bring it on.

Posted in Gaming, Life's happenings, Pete's Wish List | | 6 Comments »