I’ve set out some gaming goals for 2012 that I think our realistic and achievable for myself.

The first gaming resolution I have for 2012 is to control my gaming purchases. By this I mean just because 3 or 4 new releases come out on any given Tuesday that I shouldn’t rush out and buy every single one of those games. So let’s buy a game and finish it before moving on to the next one instead of buying a game and playing a bit and putting it on the shelf and moving on to the next game. If I can achieve this I think I can reduce the number of games I have on the go, my gaming back log and most importantly allow me not rush and finish a game just to get to the next one. There are a lot of great games out there let’s enjoy them a bit more.

I’m a huge first shooter, racing and sports gamer. Plain and simple those are my bread and butter. In 2012 I’d like to expand my gaming genres and enjoy other types of games than I normally would. This year I’ve already started playing Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and MMO developed by Bioware. I’m at level 11 as a Sith Warrior and struggling as I go. I’ve also started Skyrim. I”m only level 2 but I vow to invest more time in the coming weeks to this game. Let’s see if I can become a better RPG player in 2012.

Blog more. Very simple I want to review and write about more games here whether there on PC, console or iOS platforms. I also want to produce my own original content at least bi-weekly.

Establish or join a board game group. In 2011 I started to play board games and started to acquire a nice little collection as well. I picked up Carcassonne, Gears of War, Munchkin Quest, Munchkin Zombies, Arkham Horror, Flux and probably my favorite of Pandemic. I really need to get that expansion pack.

So that’s what I want to accomplish this year. How about you ?

$1.99
Release date: 10/25/2011Price: $1.99

Racing Gear Pack (90 items)
This DLC pack adds racing gear items of famous drivers to your Gran Turismo 5.
Contains helmets and racing suits of 8 famous WRC and NASCAR drivers, 12 helmets and suits in all. In addition there is the Official Gran Turismo helmet, and new gear from Alpinestars and Simpson.

$2.99
Release date: 10/25/2011Price: $2.99

Racing Car Pack (15 Cars)
This DLC pack adds new cars to Gran Turismo 5.
Includes the new model of the X2010 ultimate racing machine, the Red Bull X2011. There is also a lineup of specially tuned touring cars and three new racing karts. Expand your garage with these exciting new racing machines.

$7.99
Release date: 10/25/2011Price: $7.99

Course Pack (2 Tracks, 5 layouts)
This DLC pack adds the new tracks to Gran Turismo 5.
The new Course Pack includes SPA-Francorchamps (with weather effects) and Kart Space layouts I and II (each layout supports normal and reverse).

$4.99
Release date: 10/25/2011Price: $4.99

or all for 11.99?

[Major Changes and New Features]
- Standard Cars now given simplified cockpit views
The over 800 standard cars included in the game are now given simplified cockpit views. You can change your view using the SELECT button when racing, to change your display to the exciting cockpit view.
*Unlike the cockpit view of premium cars, the simplified cockpit is shown in a dark silhouette, and the gauges used for the car will be standard in-game instruments.

- New Opening Movie
A new opening movie is now available from “Gran Turismo TV”. When you download this movie, it will replace the current opening movie. The previous version will be viewable within Gran Turismo TV.

- Addition of the weather change menu
On some tracks with weather changes, it is now possible for the user to set time and weather changes from the Quick Menu in both the Arcade Mode, and “Practice” of the GT Mode. Also, you can make more detailed time and weather changes while editing in the course maker and in the online lounge.

- Multiple car settings/save feature
We’ve added a setting sheet feature that allows you to save multiple car settings.
From the [Setting Sheet] on the lower right of the screen, you can check the current settings. You can switch between 3 settings A, B, and C, allowing you to change between your personal settings easily according to the type of race and your objectives.

- Added 11 NASCAR cars
The newest NASCAR 2011 models have been added to the car dealerships. The added cars are the following:
Toyota 2011 Denny Hamlin #11 FedEx TOYOTA CAMRY ’11
Chevrolet 2011 Tony Stewart #14 Office Depot CHEVROLET IMPALA ’11
Toyota 2011 Kyle Busch #18 M&M’SR TOYOTA CAMRY ’11
Toyota 2011 Joey Logano #20 The Home Depot TOYOTA CAMRY ’11
Chevrolet 2011 Jeff Gordon #24 Drive to End Hunger CHEVROLET IMPALA ’11
Chevrolet 2011 Juan Montoya #42 Target CHEVROLET IMPALA ’11
Ford 2011 AJ Allmendinger #43 Best Buy FORD FUSION ’11
Chevrolet 2011 Jimmie Johnson #48 Lowe’s CHEVROLET IMPALA ’11
Toyota 2011 Brian Vickers #83 Red Bull TOYOTA CAMRY ’11
Chevrolet 2011 Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88 AMP Energy/National Guard CHEVROLET IMPALA ’11
Ford 2011 Carl Edwards #99 Aflac FORD FUSION ’11

- Added the Nissan GT-R N24 Schulze Motor Sports
The Nissan GT-R N24 Schulze Motor Sports has been added to the car dealer. This is the car entered in the 2011 Nurburgring 24 hour race by Schulze Motorsports of Germany, and is the very car in which Kazunori Yamauchi drove and achieved a class victory.

- Avatar now usable in Photo Travel
An Avatar ON/OFF feature has been added to Photo Travel. Now you can photograph your avatar together with your car.
You can turn the driver avatar ON/OFF by pressing the △ button while positioning the car.

- Replay Fast Forward/Rewind
All replay videos recorded after the 2.0 update will have [Forward] [Rewind] buttons.
You can now easily search for the scene you are looking for and play back a certain section whenever you want to, adding even more fun to the photo mode.

-Improved Online Lounge
[Car Restrictions] has been added in the regulations. You can now limit participants to specific categories such as “NASCAR” and “Super GT”. Also, there are now more cars that can be used in shuffle races, and a new “Shuffle Base” setting allows you to set the performance level of cars allocated to each player.
For details, please see Top screen – [Manual] – [Online Race] – [Event Settings] and the “Regulation Settings”.

- Additional features to Remote Racing
A “Graph Display” has been added to the remote race screen in GT My Home of granturismo.com, where you can enjoy B-Spec racing. This allows you to visually see the changes in positions in each lap. A time difference display for each car in the race has also been added.

- New Photo Stage Added
The “Indy: NASCAR Pit Stop” stage has been added to photo travel. We invite you to come see and capture the energy of NASCAR’s famous pit stops.

- Addition of the Consecutive Login Bonus
When a user logs in consecutively, a bonus will now be applied to experience and race rewards.
It will increase to 110% in the 1st day, 130% in the 2nd day, 150% in the 3rd day, 170% in the 4th, to a maximum of 200% in the 5th day. This will apply to all events both online and offline, so logging in every day will make the game progress faster.

- DLC (Downloadable Content) Compatibility
A [Downloadable Content] button has been added to the lower right of the top screen. Here you can install content purchased from the PlayStation®Store.
Please refer to the product information page of gran-turismo.com for details regarding downloadable content.
*The release of the DLC is planned for 25th October, 2011.

- Official Support for the G25/G27 Racing Wheels
The Logitech G25 Racing Wheel and G27 Racing Wheel are now officially supported. You can now change button assignments for various racing controls on these wheels.

[Other Improvements]
- User interface improvement
- Quick Menu can now be accessed while the race is loading.
- It is now possible to save and resume endurance races.
- Two NASCAR cars selectable in Arcade Mode have been changed from the 2010 models to 2011 models.
- In the Arcade Settings of [Options], AI Car Characteristics settings has been added. You can now change the aggressiveness of the AI against you in Arcade races.
- Some effects of Traction Control have been adjusted. When the TCS level is set to 1, it will not come into effect as much especially in tight corners on dirt tracks.
- Surface Water and Tire Load Indicator displays have been added to the race screen. The Tire Load Indicator can be set from the Quick Options menu that is displayed during the race (when the game is paused using the START button), or the standard Options menu.
- The option to Create Thumbnails for All Cars has been added to the context menu of the Garage. This will update the thumbnails of all cars in the garage.
- Experience gained in online races have been increased by 60%, and rewards have been increased by 66%.
- You can now change the Slipstream Strength settings in the lounge.
- In the Lounge and in [Option] – [General] – [Arcade], it is now possible to turn Visible Damage ON or OFF.
- Drivetrain settings has been added to the regulation settings in the Lounge.
- A setting to prohibit “Tuning” of cars has been added to the regulations settings in the Lounge.
- Adjusted the driving speed of formula cars in banks, and auto-drive when coming onto straights.
- Added a button to [Reset Playlist to Original Settings] under the settings menus of [Menu BGM], [Race BGM] and [Slideshow BGM].
- Personal BGM can now also be set in [Slideshow BGM]
- A new brand “AMG” has been added to the MUSEUM.

[Correction of Known Issues]
- Corrected an issue where the “Torque Sensing Center Differential” installed on a Lancer Evolution X was not functioning.
- Fixed an issue where you could participate in the Intermediate/Tarmac Rally of the Gran Turismo Rally in a Ferrari F1 by using the power limiter.
- Fixed an issue where the Controller Steering Sensitivity was not applied correctly.
- Fixed an issue where there was a server connection problem in certain network environments.
- Fixed an issue where auto-drive would make braking mistakes.
- Fixed an issue where the system would misjudge whether deceleration happens in time when making pit stops in the rain.

[To Check Your Current Version]
To check the version of your software, press the “Manual” button at the bottom of the main menu screen. The version number will be located on the upper left of the index page.

If the number starts with Ver. 2.00, you are playing the latest version of the game.

If not, please press the PS button and exit the game. The game will be updated automatically when you restart it with your PS3™ system connected to the internet.

We all remember Sackboy and Little Big Planet the flagship game that brought the whole family together to “Create” levels together, “Play” levels together and finally to “Share” where they tackled puzzles in one of the best platformers of all time. United Front games has updated kart racing to the 21st century as their motto is also Create, Play and Share while keeping with some of the traditions that we all grew up loving in the Mario Kart franchise. Don’t freak out fan boys I’m not saying this is here to replace Mario Kart, this is just a new take on kart racing and I’m absolutely loving it so far.

The game’s lobby is something we don’t see very often, long gone are the menus and say hello to the Mod Spot. The Mod Spot is little track you race around in to get from one place to the next. Want to check out the top karts, top tracks, hot laps drive on over to it. Another little feature is that or Mod’s can enter your track and race around. I’ve had plenty of good laughs playing king of the hill on this little jump in the middle of the spot where all the racers would pile on top. Who knew you could have so much fun before the game has even really started.

How much you want to customize your character is totally up to you, you get a factory pre-set character but you can spend hours tricking him out. You can essentially start with a blank character and design him or her however you want. From the colour of skin, the type of eyes or mouths and then there’s clothing options like shirts, pants, hats, horns and so much more. Then there are basic shape stickers along with layering them allows you create one of your kick ass logos or you know the logo from your favorite movie or game.

Don’t like the way your kart looks? No problem there is a zillion different options to customize it. The first day I looked at the top karts available for download it was a Ferrari F1 car. Honestly, how freaking cool is that? That I can pretend to be Michael Schumacher driving around the tracks like a mad man while dropping power ups on my fellow drivers

When you feel like you’re ready to make your track so you have everyone on Playstation network test out your design skills you’ll have 4 preset themes to choose from – alpine, desert, seaside and jungle. Pick one and get to work by using the right analog stick to control any elevation changes you want. Make it is as high as the sky or dip low into the ground and maybe a figure 8 to boot. When you’re done designing the track it’s time to lay down the asphalt and if you want throw some chickens on the track for good laughs or have the game auto-populate everything for you.

Once your done creating it’s time to move on to single player career which is essentially training for the online XP races or XP series. ModNation Racer’s is a kart racer racer that allows players to race there way around tracks collecting power ups to blow other racers to kingdom come, while hitting boost pads, with drifting and drafting. You need to place in the top  3 to move on and you do unlock items to be used in creation mode. There are a ton of different power ups that feature 3 levels and didn’t features across each level. Drifting and drafting are important as they allow the player to fill up their boost meter to provide them with a shot of turbo or allow them to use that power to block enemy attacks. Getting point’s is easy, blow up a fellow racer or drift. The drift mechanic is really well done and it makes the game a ton of fun. The only disappointment about the drifting mechanic  is that if your drifting in to a left hand turn you cant switch that into a right hand drift for the next turn. You need to stop and restart your drifting. So once your power meter is filled up the big question is do you use it for boost or do you save and try to block attacks from fellow racers. The attacks are the typical rockets, lightning, etc and these attacks can be quiet devastating however they can be also be annoying. On many occasions I’ve found my self getting blown to pieces only to respawn and get blown up as soon as I respawn. I’ll talk more about that in the multi-player portion of this review. I also feel like I need to mention that during the progress of your career that AI get’s stupid difficult and can make it very tough for you to progress to the next race.

I need to mention that this game as some of the worse load times I’ve ever seen in a video game. I’m not sure how these got through certification. I’ve gotten so frustrated with the load times I’ve almost quit playing the game.  I’ve literally had time to do the dishes in between races that maybe a bit of execration but you get the point.

The multi-player portion of this game consists of playing with friends or for XP. There are only 2 races types in the XP mode which are XP races or XP series. The XP races are fun if you don’t have much time to play but the real meat is the 5 race XP series. I haven’t experienced any issues with lag so that’s gotta mean United Front Games has developed some really solid net code for this game. I’ve had an absolute blast playing against a solid group of players for 5 racers. If you have the chance I highly recommend to hop online and play the game.  Like I mentioned earlier you can get spammed by enemy weapons and it’s one of the most annoying parts about playing online.

ModNation Racer’s is a solid game with very easy but deep creation tools. The game mechanic’s are fairly solid and it’s just a ton of freaking fun. This game isn’t perfect it has it’s faults but definitely worth spending your money on. Oh yes I forgot to mention it does feature 4 player split-screen for you family gamers.

The issue I have is it’s only 15 minutes in length, very short piece of game play for $4.99 however if your like me and loved Heavy Rain this is something you should play.

• Awe Yeah, the combat is just fun
• Stunning Visuals
• Boss Battles are Challenging

The Bad

• It ends
• No Help / Hint’s during puzzles
• No HUD/ on screen navigation

My first exposure to the God of War franchise was when Sony released the re-mastered God of War Collection (God of War 1 & God of War 2) on 1 blu-ray disc including trophies. It was a great first exposure to the characters, story and game play. We all remember the ending of God of War 2 where Kratos was on the back of the Titans while they scaled Mount Olympus in search of Zeus and looking for Revenge. This means one thing and one thing only it’s March and Kratos our beloved God of War is back making his debut on the PlayStation 3.

Obviously the game starts with Kratos standing on the shoulder of Gaia a titan, who urges her fellow titans to climb Mount Olympus and kill the gods for once and all ending the rein of all mighty god Zeus. The camera pans around and shows this mere molecule (Kratos) enjoying the ride. Kratos main job is here is to protect Gaia from the relentless attacks from Poseidon with most the battle taking place on the titan herself. A confrontation with Gaia ends up with Kratos arriving in the land of the dead where he must battle Hades and defeat him. I personally had such a hard time battling Hades the game recommended I switch difficulties.

Next up it was time for Kratos to make his way into the City of Olympia and track down Helios during the course of wandering through the city you poised to help a titan by shooting down Helios using a ballista. This was like target practice, quite challenging at first but shooting him down provided me with instant gratitude. Using the head of Helios to light the way it’s time to head down the path of EOS. Later on you’ll battle your bitter rival Hercules and after disposing of him it’s time to check out Poseidon’s chamber where you speak to the goddess herself Aphrodite.  Next it’s time to make for the Pit of Tartarus and look for the Omphalos Stone. Remember Crono’s from God of War 2, he’s back and it’s time to rumble.

After that it’s Time to return to Daedalus’s workshop, escape Hera’s Garden, then head into the hidden passageway to find Pandora and to escape the Labyrinth before it’s too late. Finally you arrive at the Chain of Balance where you must break it and return to Pandora. It has arrived time to Battle the mighty Zeus.

There isn’t a whole lot changed in terms of combat, it’s the same formula just polished up from previous versions. Of course there is a bunch of new weapons like the blades of exile; the army of Sparta is one of my favorites. These Spartan Warriors surround Kratos with shields and spears, these warriors attack those who cross Kratos path. You also are immune from taking damage during the casting of this spell. The Claws of Hades are cool but you have the blades of Athena and I haven’t found much use for them.  One of the favorite new items is the head of Helios this allows the Kratos to shine a light and kill enemies.  The finishing moves are just over the top, gratuitous, fun to execute and enjoying to watch. One of the big things I’ve noticed over its predecessors is that the level design and the variety is quite noticeable and makes the game a lot more enjoyable. The boss battles are challenging, fun and cross between fighting the Gods and the Titans is a good mix up. I wish I could battled more titans.

Sony Santa Monica has developed a visual masterpiece, the sense of scale of is incredible, the way the camera pans out to show everything and you see Kratos this little spec on screen. One small noticeable improvement all game developers should take notice of is during quick time events placing the buttons on the side of the screen. This draws the player’s attention to focus on the quick time event so they can enjoy the action. The camera, I loved how the camera pans to show the incredible sense of scale, detail and just awe dropping moments throughout the game. However, I wish I had more control of the actual camera at times. I’d love to be able to look out the titans or gods from Kratos point of view.

One of the biggest dislikes in the franchise I’ve noticed and still isn’t rectified in God of War 3 is there is no HUD system on screen. This is more of a personal preference rather than a fault of the game. I am not a great puzzle solver at any game and the lack of “hint” system in place has caused me great frustration at different stages of the game. Sure when you get to a puzzle the camera pans around showing you where you start and where you end.  If you half way through solving a puzzle and get stuck why not implement a “help” button similar to Uncharted 2? It’s simple, easy and if you don’t want to use it don’t press the button.

Honestly there isn’t much wrong with God of War 3, the things I mentioned above are small personal preferences I like in games. I understand why there not there.  The facts are God of War 3 does what it does and does it better than the original 2 game’s. Isn’t that what sequels are for? Improving over the original games while sticking to the key successes of the franchise and God of War 3 does that well. If you like Kratos, the storyline, the button mashing and the gruesome finishing moves and oh yea did I mention an artistic masterpiece? God of War 3 will sell a ton of copies, hell it may even sell a few additional PlayStation 3 systems. Why would you miss out on potentially one the best games of this generation.

If your interested in buying them check out Amazon.com or PDP’s website

From the moment you start Uncharted 2 you will notice how gorgeous this game is, in fact I will say I don’t there is a better looking next gen game. This games audio is a reason to get a surround sound system or a very end set of headphones is to experience the audio. The gun sounds; the rain and music simply compliment and go hand in hand with this game. The voice acting is simply brilliant throughout the game Nathan Drake will simply leaving you laughing at the remarks he makes. The supporting cast in the game also has some tremendous voice acting. The actors can only do so much with a script that the writing team gives them and wherever Naughty Dog found these writers they deserve a big pay raise.

Uncharted 2 does not do a whole lot different from the first game but it just does it better. The combat in Drake’s Fortune was one of the weak spots of the game, the team over at naughty has greatly improved the shooting mechanics and it certainly shows. Enemies are no longer bullet sponges unless they are completely covered in Kevlar armour. The cover mechanics have also greatly improved allowing Nathan slide from cover to cover effectively. Blowing enemies up with grenades is always fun but it was a real struggle in first game which involved using the D-pad or six axis. Now all you have to do is aim and tap L2. It’s much easier and more effective. Melee combat is just more fun to use as well and there are several trophies available to encourage melee combat. There is also a heavy focus on stealth whether it be shooting enemies from ledges, pulling enemies off of ledges or running down the very quietly and then knocking out the enemy.

I played it on normal and beat the game just under 10 hours that has Nathan Drake searching for a mythical city of Shangri-La because he wants unravel the mystery of Marco Polo’s voyage from China in 1292. After spending time with Kublai Khan, Marco departed with 14 ships and 600 passengers and crew but when he arrived at destination he only had 1 ship and 18 passengers. Throughout the course of the game Nate encounters friend Flynn who turns into a foe, Chloe, Zoran Lazarevic, our good friend Sully and Elena.

One of the biggest editions to the game is multiplayer. There is Co-operative multiplayer as well competitive multiplayer. First up for co-op will allow 3 players to take on roles of Nathan and 2 other characters as they make their way through gun fights and team based objectives. Should one of your comrades should fall you will need to revive them and I have to say as someone who was downed a lot good teammates are key to this mode. Gold Rush has players team up to get a treasure and return it to their base. You also have survival mode where you take on wave after wave of bad guys or girls. For competitive play you get the usual deathmatch, elimination and capture the treasure and much more. There is a bit of RPG element to the multiplayer as you can gain ranks and in turn allows you to buy perks or upgrades with the cash you earned in game (if you finished Uncharted you’ll start with 80k). Levels have been taken right out of the first player campaign so that means you can climb up to the get the higher ground on the other team. Naughty has also implemented a party system that works extremely well for a Playstation 3 game.

If you own a Playstation 3 there is no reason why you shouldn’t play this game. It’s gorgeous looking, it’s funny and it was one of the first games in a long time made me completely lose track of time. The single player campaign is epic and multiplayer is quite fun and for 60 dollars this game is a steal!.

A $299.99 120 gig PlayStation 3 soared it’s way outsold the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 for the first time in a long time.  If you recall last month last months NPD post, I predicted the PlayStation 3 would outsell the Xb0x 360.

• Nintendo DS – 524,200
• PlayStation 3 – 491,800
• Wii – 462,800
• Xbox 360 – 352,600
• PSP – 190,400
• PlayStation 2 – 146,000

Software sales for the month of September saw Halo ODST do very well, Wii Resort  and Madden 10 do very well. The interesting fact is there isn’t much different between the Madden 10 sales on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

01. Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360) – 1,520,000
02. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) – 442,900
03. Madden NFL 10 (Xbox 360) – 298,600
04. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS) – 258,100
05. The Beatles: Rock Band (Xbox 360) – 254,000
06. Madden NFL 10 (PS3) – 246,500
07. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (Xbox 360) – 236,000
08. Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3) – 212,500
09. Guitar Hero 5 (Xbox 360) – 210,800
10. The Beatles: Rock Band (Wii) – 208,600

From the moment the rookie strapped on the new prototype proton pack and got lectured about why proton beams should never cross paths. I felt like I was actually part of the team. Too bad there is no punishment in game for crossing paths which I was a little disappointed with.

The single player campaign follows a story around a large PKE wave hits New York City and sends the team on a variety of missions to capture a wide variety of ghosts. Throughout the game everything you do is scrutinized by a douche bag named Walter Peck who is now in charge of the Paranormal Contract Oversight Committee who was appointed by the Mayor. During the course of the game you meet Dr.Ilyssa Selwyn a museum curator who’s ties to this mysterious events leads you to find and destroy node’s and node guardians at the Sedgewick Hotel, The New York public library, the museum of Natural history and the final node being a mansion that rises from the middle of the Hudson River.
The basic game play consists of firing your proton stream at ghosts, weaken down and throw out a trap and slam them into a trap and pick up the trap and you have a ghost captured. You earn cash on each mission which can be used to purchase weapon upgrades throughout the game. You’ll also receive upgrades from Egon as the game progresses since you are experimental weapons specialist. One of the first things I upgraded was the trap; the upgraded trap makes capturing ghosts a lot easier.

This game also features a multiplayer aspect which consists of the 4 Ghostbusters cooperatively blasting and capturing ghosts. There are six jobs (game play modes) for you to enjoy. The six game modes are survival, containment, protection, destruction, thief and slime dunk. If there was ever a game that did not need multiplayer Ghostbusters is it. After a long and drawn out campaign last thing I wanted to do was run around and capture more ghosts. I had my fix and that’s all I needed.
Overall I had a lot of fun using the proton beam to weaken, slam and capture ghosts, my biggest complaint is I feel the game dragged on too long. It also has a 60 dollar price tag which is probably a little too high but you need to pay for all the original Ghostbusters for incredibly funny voice acting work they did. If you can find this game for 40 bucks and want to experience would it would be like to weld a proton pack, I would highly recommend you do.