playstation 3

Girlfriend Gaming: Help Me Recommend PS3 Games

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My girlfriend is a life-long PlayStation fan. Way before I entered her life, she grew up playing Crash Team Racing on her PlayStation One. She’s since picked up a SNES and a Wii, but she’s had her eye on a PlayStation 3 for a long time now. At the very least, she’s wanted one long before I ever started thinking about it.

She feels like now is the right time to take the plunge and pick up a PS3. She’s asked for my help in recommending games for her to try, but my PS3 knowledge isn’t that great compared to what I know about the other systems. This is why I’m enlisting you for help. What should she buy or try out on the PS3?

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Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is Out Today

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While everyone dropped their bones on a copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops last week, I was saving up my pennies for today. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is out now, and I am hyped to jump back into Italy, get back in touch with Leonardo Da Vinci and stab more dudes in the face with my spring-action wrist blades.

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Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is the XBOX LIve Deal of the Week

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Last time I wrote about this game, I was debating to myself whether or not I wanted to drop $10 on it. Based on what I had played from the demo, I enjoyed what was there, but I wasn’t sure if there was enough to justify my $10. Yes, I understand that in the grand scheme of gaming (console gaming in particular), $10 isn’t that much. However, I want a certain level of value out of my games and $10 for that particular package didn’t add up to me.

None of that matters now, at least for this week.

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Random Observation: The Ballad of Black Ops

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Earlier this evening, I wanted to download something on XBOX Live while waiting for my turn in Super Street Fighter IV on PS3. I had them both going thanks to picture-in-picture. It was crazy to see that everyone on both of my friends list was playing Call of Duty: Black Ops.

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Early Impressions of Killzone 2

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With the Killzone 3 beta having recently started, me starting Killzone 2 is either just right or horribly late, depending on how you slice it. I must confess that I had little interest in this game going into it and only bought it because I was able to get it for really cheap alongside Infamous.

All I knew about this game going into it was that it was hyped to be a Halo or Call of Duty killer. I still dislike the Halo series, but I really enjoyed the Modern Warfare games. I haven’t played nearly enough to say one way or another, but from what I’ve played so far, it appears to have a lot of potential.

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Why PS3 Software Updates Suck

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I picked up Killzone 2 about a month ago, alongside Infamous and Resistance 2. I’ve been occupied with other games, but I recently tried to give this game a go. As per usual, the system required me to update the software if I wanted to play it online. As per usual, the process was slow, horrible, and didn’t actually work until after 20 failed attempts.

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Final Thoughts: God of War Review

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After one weekend of grinding through and a number of days slowly chipping away at it, I have completed God of War. Yes, I’m years late to the party, but I’m glad to have caught up. Before I start working my way through God of War II and III though, I just wanted to document my experiences going through the final portions of the game. If you’d like to see my earlier impressions of God of War, check out my previous posts.
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Game Design Talk: God of War Puts Me Through Hell

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After powering through 2/3 of the game in a weekend, I’ve slowly chipped away at God of War ever since. I’m pretty close to the end now, though I currently need to take a break from it to vent my current frustration.

Not that I hate the game or anything. I think it’s pretty fantastic. However, I just passed a part of the game that made me want to rip my hair out. For God of War vets, you probably have a good idea of where I’m going with this. If you haven’t made it this far, I must warn you that there are mild spoilers ahead.

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Game Design Talk: The Controls of Little Big Planet

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It’s been a while since I wrote about Little Big Planet. Since I wrote my initial impressions, I have played a bit of it, but for the most part, I’ve actively avoided it.

For a game that I liked so much to start, things went sour pretty quickly. As I continued to play through the game, it became readily apparent to me that the controls and character physics were not designed to handle this type of action.

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The ESRB and My Video Game Collection

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Last year, my 7 year-old cousin at the time discovered Modern Warfare 2 through my 12 year-old cousin. Ever since that day, my now 8 year-old cousin has become enamored with the Mature-rated Call of Duty series. For him, Modern Warfare 2 was his Mortal Kombat; it was his gateway drug to Mature-rated games. As of now, he owns Conflict: Denied Ops and Sniper: Ghost Warrior, which he brags about being M-rated all the time.

I didn’t bring this anecdote up to talk about parenting. I don’t approve of him playing content I would deem inappropriate for him and I do what I can to keep that stuff away. The reason I bring this up though, is because my 8 year-old cousin now views that M rating as a symbol of cool. He loves the fact that he owns games that he knows he’s too young to be playing. They’re his forbidden fruit and he’ll take anything he can get at this point.

All of this made me think about my video game collection and how it relates to the ESRB. Once upon a time, the Mortal Kombat series was my forbidden fruit. Did my catalogue of games evolve in relation to the ESRB guidelines or did I overdose on forbidden fruit? I do the math to answer these questions and highlight any insights regarding gaming as I grew up.

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