Author Archives: Mel

Unleash the marketing potential of Twitter with Tweet Whistle

by Mel
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Unleash the marketing potential of Twitter with Tweet Whistle

Twitter’s popularity as THE microblogging platform of choice for millions of people all over the world is well deserved. The popular service enjoys the support of high profile personalities, which absolutely helps its reputation and street cred. I opened my Twitter account almost a year ago when I kept hearing about it from my friends. I readily became obsessed with it, constantly making “tweets” and following the accounts not only of friends but artists and personalities I like. It became readily apparent to me — using Twitter — that the popular microblogging platform is, indeed, a great marketing solution. I’ve read about Twitter now being used as one of the Read more »

Square Enix teaser page may be for new FF game for NDS

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Last week, Square Enix launched a new teaser site. The original page only had a sketch of a village and a very conspicuous number “4″, but right now, a visit to the page will reveal three people — a boy wielding a sword and two girls riding atop a dragon. Quite intriguing, isn’t it? But Square Enix’s attempt at creating mystery might be all for naught. Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Jump may have actually jumped the gun on the company. Scans of the magazine showed Square Enix’s new game Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden for the DS. The game will be a turn based RPG that will arrive Read more »

Blizzard removes LAN Multiplayer on Starcraft II

by Mel
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Blizzard removes LAN Multiplayer on Starcraft II

Without a doubt, Blizzard’s upcoming sequel Starcraft II is one of the most anticipated games in recent memory. The first Starcraft created such hardcore fan appreciation that up to this day — 11 years after it was released — thousands of people still play the game. That is unprecendented and anyone would be hardpressed to think of any game that gains this level of longevity. One of the reasons for the fans’ continued support for Starcraft, aside from the deep, strategic gameplay is the fact that you can play it with your friends and mount frenetic multiplayer battles during LAN parties. Nothing beats having a heated game in a room Read more »

Blood of Bahamut's Gilgamesh revealed

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Blood of Bahamut's Gilgamesh revealed

One of the games that I am eagerly looking forward to is Square Enix’s Blood of Bahamut, a multiplayer action RPG. This RPG actually has its roots in the Final Fantasy series. FF gamers know of the powerful summoned creatures in the game, with Bahamut being one of the toughest. In this game we will also see Gilgamesh, Shive and Ifrit. I’m betting that all of the FF summons will be here too. To whet your appetite here’s a picture of Gilgamesh in all his awesome glory. Read more »

Sony files patent for Emotion Engine tech on PS3's Cell processor

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Sony files patent for Emotion Engine tech on PS3's Cell processor

When I heard that Sony was going to remove PS2 backwards compatibility on future Playstation 3 units, I decided that I was going to track down a unit that still had the Emotion Engine installed on it. I still have some PS2 games that I want to play and I wanted the option to play it on the PS3. Even though software emulated backwards compatibility was also made available on PS3 units released a year ago, I felt that having the actual hardware on my PS3 was the way to go. Sony’s decision to remove this feature may have been borne out of the desire to save a few more Read more »

Initial impressions on Fight Night Round 4

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Initial impressions on Fight Night Round 4

I finally finished downloading Electronic Arts‘ Fight Night Round 4 demo for the Playstation 3 last weekend and I’ve been playing it on and off over the last couple of days. First off, the graphics have vastly improved. Everything is now more detailed – from the character models (you actually get to read Manny Pacquiao’s arm tattoos) to the environments. I’m still on the fence with regards to the generally brighter visuals because the darker lighting of Round 3 kind of suited the whole feel of the sport. I’m still getting used to the controls at this point. My initial impression is that the controls are a bit floaty. It’s Read more »

Sony finally unveils PSP Go

by Mel
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Sony finally unveils PSP Go

One of Sony’s “worst kept secrets” was finally confirmed during Sony press conference at the recently held Electronic Entertainment Expo. The PSP Go is the spiritual successor to Sony’s Playstation Portable (PSP) handheld gaming console. I said spiritual successor because Sony stressed that the PSP Go is not meant to replace the PSP but is expected to be a complimentary device. The PSP Go will be 40 percent lighter than the current PSP-3000 and will also be 50 percent smaller. It will have both WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. Confirming rumors for the device that has been running rampant on the internet months before, the PSP Go will not have a Read more »

Akihabara: A Geek Paradise

by Mel
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The geek has indeed inherited the earth. A growing number of pursuits are now aimed squarely at the geek in all of us. Gone are the days when poring over comicbooks, talking about gadgets and raving over Star Trek is a sure way of getting beat up. Now it is cool to be a geek. It’s practically a badge of honor to be able to reference science fiction shows and fantasy novels, actually recognize physics terms and theories, have a huge comicbook collection and have a slew of gadgets — most of them released just a few months ago. For the true-blue and hardcore geek no other country in the Read more »

Are GTA IV DLCs just timed exclusives for Microsoft?

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Are GTA IV DLCs just timed exclusives for Microsoft?

Gamers know that Microsoft scored a “coup” of sorts by cornering the downloadable content for such hits as Grand Theft Auto IV and Fallout 3. The deal it struck with Rock Star Games and Bethesda is that DLCs for the two games will only be made available on the Xbox 360 — much to the disappointment of Playstation 3 fans. Of course, this agreement is not without any financial weight for the game company. Microsoft reportedly paid $25 million for each GTA IV DLC. A really big amount if you think about it. Microsoft has insisted that the DLCs will only be available for its console but timed exclusivity was Read more »

Jane's Addiction finally getting RB DLC release

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Jane's Addiction finally getting RB DLC release

I just bought all of the Rock Band DLCs a little over a month ago and at this point I’m not even halfway through the songs because i keep going back to the songs that I love playing — which is surprisingly a lot. But despite being up to my eyeballs in Rock Band DLCs I’m already earmarking money for next week’s purchase because it’s gonna be an awesome bunch of songs. Harmonix and MTV Games has announced that Jane’s Addiction will be the featured artist for next week’s DLC release. Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking album will be finally released after so much delay. Actually, the first announcement of this Read more »