It really pays to subscribe to newsletters sometimes. You’ll never know what bit of fantastic news might just leap out at you when you least expect it.

I just opened my e-mail inbox recently when I came across an Atlus announcement: a new medical sim (a genre made popular by the Trauma Center series) will be coming to the Nintendo Wii sometime spring of next year. Dubbed Hospital slash Trauma Team, this new game passes the torch to six new doctors ready to continue the legacy of Drs. Styles, Weaver, Vaughn and Blaylock.

Of course, I’m assuming that those three veterans aren’t in the game to begin with. Three of the doctors look like younger and stylishly redrawn versions of the veteran surgeons. A fourth doctor in the series gives us a glimpse of what Dr. Styles may look like sans glasses, darker hair, vampiric bloodlust and an androgynous charm borrowed from a certain Persona 4 sleuth.

The prospect of having six specialists this time around instead of two miracle doctors who do all the work (with a hot nurse nagging them all throughout the process) sounds like an interesting concept. This way, you can have one doctor stitch up all the wounds  while another glues back broken pieces of bone with mystical antibiotic gel. A third surgeon can focus on removing tumors with impunity while the other two are preoccupied.

Of course, we’ll have to wait and see if all of them will actually be working together during the operation itself, or if they’ll be taking turns during the entire process of testing, diagnosis, surgery and post-op. The latter case may be likely, as one of the doctors is supposed to be a diagnostician.

Also, a quick glance at the initial screenshots will tell you that the classic syringe, forceps, gel et al are still in there. Some gameplay elements may also involve timing bits reminiscent of the defibrillator and “massage” scenarios of past games. There’s appears to be a part where you have to hammer some bones into place as well.

It’s most unfortunate that the official website contains very little info as of this time. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled on this one, though. Anything that gives me a good excuse to probe a woman’s bare midriff is A-okay in my book.

A few days ago the demo for Yakuza 3 (Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 in Japan) came out on Japanese PSN. By cheating the system I downloaded the Japanese demo due to being a big fan of the Yakuza series. The demo has some flaws.

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The first Mass Effect was a great game, it had an amazing back story, suitable combat mechanics, and an great choice system. This was the first game I’ve played that I felt that my choices actually altered the game (sorry Fable). The only flaws in the game were poor conversational paths, extremely repetative side missions, graphical glitches, and an extremely ineffective inventory system. Although overal I had an extremely enjoyable time when playing Mass Effect. Enough fun that I felt it necessary to beat the game four times. It’s a bit obvious that I’m a big fan of immersive RPGs, so hearing news about Mass Effect 2 naturally gets me all wet and excited, and what better to get me moist than small teaser that Bioware has released for the game on their Mass Effect 2 website.

Watch over the trailer, it doesn’t take that long. If you’ve played the first Mass Effect you may be a bit concerned about the “Status: Killed in Action” that flashes on the screen. Does this suggest that Shepard (the main character from Mass Effect), is dead? I hope not. Shepard is one bad ass dude, at least the Shepard I created is. Still, Well we can see a Geth creature in his suit, which could mean perhaps he’s been captured by the Geth and has been reconstructed as one. That’s just wishful thinking though. One this is for sure though,  if Mass Effect 2 is anything like the first, I’ll be a happy customer.

On a side note, what the hell is up with the whole trend of adding boxes to your logos, I mean first Mirror’s Edge and now Mass Effect 2? Boxes are pretty trendy.

Who doesn’t remember Goldeneye on the N64? Well except for those who never played it. Answer: Almost no one. I’m sure that most of you that played Rare’s Goldeneye back in the day remember the good times in the campaign and in multiplayer, and with a good purpose too. Goldeneye was one of the most revolutionary console first person shooters ever released. Not only that though, the game was outrageously fun with friends.

Now that Microsoft owns Rare, and you have Banjo Kazooie on Xbox Live, with Banjo Tooie coming in April, you’d expect there would be some kind of project happening regarding Goldeneye, like there was a project involving Perfect Dark. If you did expect it, you were right, if you didn’t..  well there were plans. Sadly the project was started then aborted due to some shit regarding Nintendo having a sore ass wanting some funds out of it. Of course that has come and pass, and even though I really wish it had happened, there’s not much a person can do about it.

Let’s move on now to Goldeneye Source, a clever remake of Goldeneye made by some fine gentlemen using the Source engine. The beta has already been released, and frankly from what I can see, the remake is amazing. Only multiplayer at the moment, but hell, even that is awesome. There is some speculation that singleplayer may be worked upon in the future, and if this is made true, then my dreams will be fulfilled.

My only worry about this project is that Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation have exclusive rights to the James Bond franchise, and in the past there has been some legal issues with obtaining rights to the franchise. Not to mention that Rare owns intellectual rights to the game itself.  I can tell you this much though, if these gentlemen were to pay royalties to the folks over at the UAC, they’d be paying a pretty penny. Anyhow, here’s to hoping that Goldeneye Source continues grow and develop into more than it already is, and here’s hoping that I buy Half-Life 2 sometime to access it as well as other mods.

The real time strategy (RTS) genre has been popular on the PC for ages now, hell, it’s even a sport. When Halo Wars was first announced you got the general consensus from people that it’s going to fail horribly because it’s an RTS without the use of a keyboard and mouse. However, is that the case? Can it be possible for a genre almost extremely exclusive on the PC to be done well on a console? I went to find out when I downloaded the demo for Halo Wars.

Most people remember the monstrosity of StarCraft 64, I remember renting it for my Nintendo 64, and I remember loving the game for being StarCraft but hating how it was done. If you have never paid StarCraft 64 let me tell you this: Don’t. The consoles are a huge deal in RTS games. StarCraft 64 takes good controls and decides add a nice layer of shit upon it. This isn’t about SC 64 though, so let’s get to Halo.
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Not much going on in the world of music gaming right now, which is rare. Harmonix recently confirmed that Rock Band 3 isn’t coming this year – they’re focusing on some British band instead. RB2 Wii has DLC, finally, though the weekly releases are having some issues. Watch for updates on the Wii DLC here every week whenever they get those fixed. Activision’s got another cash cow coming out in late March (why is it getting Queen instead of a main-series game?), and has released a rather subpar DLC schedule for February. So let’s focus on this week’s batch of fairly good songs!

February 3, 2009 (360) / February 5, 2009 (PS3)

Thin Lizzy Pack 01 ($5.50 / 440 MSP or $2 / 160 MSP each)

• Thin Lizzy – Boys Are Back In Town (Live)
• Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak (Live)
• Thin Lizzy – Cowboy Song (Live)

Singles ($2 / 160 MSP each)

• Pat Benatar – Hit Me With Your Best Shot
• The Pretenders – Precious

Singles ($1 / 80 MSP each)

• Nikko – Don’t Tell Me
• Nikko – Break My Heart

Videos and tier information after the break.

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Most of us should have seen this coming. A recent Gamefly listing shows that a game based on the upcoming movie, Dragon Ball Z: Evolution, is set to be released not too far from now.

Not much is known about the game at this time, except for it obviously being based on the movie, which is loosely based on the anime (and I mean very loosely, if you’ve seen the trailers). The game is slated to be released on April 9, around the same time the movie itself opens in theaters. Namco is set to publish it, and it will be on the PSP only.

Judging from screenshots, it seems more like another Tekken copycat (and a poor looking one at that) instead of the high flying, beam tossing action in the anime games. Then again, Namco is responsible for the Tekken series itself, plus the Soul Calibur line of games, so they may have better chances at making the game seem more attractive at least.

Is anyone else getting flashbacks of the Street Fighter live action movie?

Dawn of War 2

The Dawn of War II beta is here! Well, for some people at least. If you own Dawn of War: Soulstorm on Steam, you get access to a special beta. This beta runs from the 21st of january to the 28th. Then, the beta is open for everybody else.

And is it worth to have Soulstorm on Steam? Well yeah, because Dawn of War II is pretty damn awesome. And the best part? Soulstorm is currently on a special offer, with 75% off! That means it’s only $3,75!
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After a long hiatus, GEB’s Rock Band DLC previews are back. The reason? I was too lazy to type those huge posts with tons of details for every song. The solution? Shorter posts! Let’s get right back into the action with next week’s content: Grateful Dead 02.

January 27, 2009 (360) / January 29, 2009 (PS3)

Grateful Dead Pack 02 ($10 / 800 MSP or $2 / 160 MSP each)

• Grateful Dead – Hell In a Bucket
• Grateful Dead – Don’t Ease Me In
• Grateful Dead – Cold Rain and Snow
• Grateful Dead – Doin’ That Rag
• Grateful Dead – Fire On the Mountain
• Grateful Dead – Uncle John’s Band

Videos and tier information after the break.

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Even if you’ve never played one of them, the Battlefront series of Star Wars games have always been good fun. They weren’t RPG’s or space flight sims, only simple 3rd person shooters that revolved around zone capturing in what was considered an addictive formula.

With Free Radical (who is...Ahem, was behind the Battlefront series,) being in trouble, who knows when, or even if Battlefront 3 will come into fruition.

However, if you’re looking for a similar kind of experience in the mean time, Pandemic Studios has been working on Lord of the Rings: Conquest. With unit classes, “Hero” units, and zone capturing galore, it seems to be shaping up as a fun package.
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