Well, yesterday that bitterness was wiped away as Lucas Arts announced that Monkey Island: Special Edtion and it’s sequel would be coming to PSN as well as the Mac. There’s currently no details as to when the first game will hit, but I’m under the assumption it’ll be before the sequel releases “this summer”.

There’s said to be some tweaks to the new game after fans had problems with some of the last game. Guybrush’s hair was apparently a point of contention. Fanboys rejoice, it seems like that’s been ‘fixed’ for you.

Right off the bat you’re tossed into the life of Ethan Mars, a successful architect, married with two children, life for this everyman is going swell until disaster strikes Ethan after losing his son in a bad turn of events. Cut two years later and this fall from grace has reduced Ethan to a hollow existence of caring for his remaining sun. Suffering from depression the occasional blackouts, Ethan has run out of reasons to keep going. That is until his remaining son Shaun goes missing and a mission to save his son puts Ethan in some compromising positions that are just too drastic and spoiler-filled to type.

Of course Ethan Mars isn’t the only character you’ll play; if you’ve been following Heavy Rain at all then you’ll know the game revolves around a further three characters all in search of the Origami Killer. Norman Jayden, a FBI investigator brought into the case to aid the investigation to profile the killer whilst struggling to deal with an addiction of his own. There’s also Scott Shelby, a private detective hired by the families who were victim to the Origami Killers actions tracing suspects and gathering evidences. And finally there’s Madison Page, an insomniac journalist who gets caught up in Ethan’s struggle to save his son.

Heavy Rain’s weaving narrative is stunningly well paced, never allowing you to over indulge in one characters tale without breaking the tension that escalates in all the right places. Some segments can be a little mundane in nature; in particular a scene in which Scott Shelby is forced to play babysitter changing diapers and rocking a baby gently to sleep should indicate the kind of tangents this murder mystery can take early in the story.

The most intriguing aspect of the narrative is its many branching paths the story can take for everything you do and everything you don’t do. You’ll occasionally ask yourself if you can take the life or another or whether or not the sacrifice you make comes at the cost of killing off someone else or even yourself. Don’t fret, the story will continue with or without some of the characters and the conclusion can be just as satisfying with all four characters alive or not, it’s all depends on the choices you make.

Of course not all choices are a case of picking from the games floating responses. A lot of it will depend on how well you can react to the games inventive use of quick time events; making use of button presses, directional pushes and even valid uses of the six-axis controls. Their implementation is cleverly mapped to the actions in-game the majority of which will be introduced in the games stunning introduction in which you take part in Ethan’s day to day activities: showering, sketching and playing with his sons. It might sound like something plucked out a cinematic take on The Sims but there’s no doubt the controls are peculiarly accurate gauging everything from timing, gentle gestures, furious button bashing and finger twisting button combinations.

Quick time events aren’t exactly revolutionary these days but Quantic Dream should be patted on the back for making them relevant and accurate to the actions in-game. The same cannot be said for the games tank-like approach to navigating said characters. Holding down R2 to walk in a straight line whilst directing with the left analogue stick really isn’t the most practical control system occasionally pushing characters to walk into walls before correctly aiming them in the right direction.

Heavy Rain’s presentation for the most part is pretty solid. Quantic’s efforts to produce a realistic and believable world with considerable attention to detail haven’t gone a miss, something that the games close up loading screens alone will be a testament to. You’ll see certain pieces out of place be it a pop-in texture or an odd looking character animation here or there but it’s the games ambition really magnifies these chinks in the armour beyond their actual significance.

A single playthrough of Heavy Rain should last around 10 hours and the narrative wraps itself up pretty well without leaving too many deep plot holes; arguably there are some unexplained circumstances but it’s nothing that should ruin the plot for anyone. To say each play through is unique however is a little misleading; repeating the game over and over and you’ll find the narrative structure barely branches out too far as to change the story considerably. If you don’t want to repeat the game too soon, you should have unlocked a selection of movies and artwork clips which highlight the significant efforts that went into the games development.

There will be people who hate Heavy Rain; its emphasis on narrative over interactivity tends to put you in the co-directors seat than the driving force of the story. That said, it’s hard to walk away from story once you’re elbows deep in shards of glass and a tormenting guessing game of who’s the Origami killer. Heavy Rain’s ambition might come across a little pretentious, something made all too true when you unlock the ‘Thank you for supporting Interactive Drama’ trophy, but there’s no denying that what has been achieved here is nothing short of outstanding and something that no PS3 owner should be without.

8.8/10

The name of the controller has been oft rumored and it was thought to be called ‘Arc’. After Sony failed to gain a trademark for the name in Europe, it was swiftly changed. Yes, that’s why the logo looks more like an ‘A’ than it does an ‘M’.

Alongside the name, Sony announced a bunch of other stuff related to the new controller. Players will have the option to use a “sub-controller” (or nunchuck) with their games and for the full package – Move, Sub-Controller and PS Eye – it’ll be around $100. The controllers will also be sold separately for those who already have Sony’s camera peripheral and, of course, for two-player experiences.

The new controller was demoed at Sony’s GDC press conference and it was confirmed that EyePet (which is releasing this ‘holiday’ in North America), LittleBigPlanet and Socom 4 would all support it. As expected, there were some Wii Sports-esque games shown off too. You can watch a trailer for your most wanted new gizmo (maybe?) after the jump.

The third track pack contains three mixes from the game’s premiere artists, Jay-Z and Eminem. These new tracks are certain to spark a little more interest in the game and maybe get some people back behind their plastic turntable. See the three mixes below.

• ‘Shake That’ by Eminem mixed with ‘Show Me What You Got’ by Jay-Z
• ‘Without Me’ by Eminem mixed with ‘Encore’ by Jay-Z
• ‘Can I Get A…’ by Jay-Z mixed with ‘Lose Yourself’ by Eminem

The tracks will be available on PSN next Thursday (March 18th) and will cost $7.99. No UK pricing has been confirmed as of yet.

The game sees Ms. Croft traversing the the crumbling ruins of the underworld once again, but this time it seems Crystal Dynamics have taken some inspiration from other, downloadable, modern classics like Shadow Complex.

The game offers up around six-hours of co-op action (wait, what?) which will, as per usual, combine action and puzzle solving. CD see this game raising the bar for downloadable games and will offer up a new experience for Lara fans.

Source: Joystiq

Critter Crunch developer Capy have announced that they’re porting the game to a downloadable platform near you. Like the PSN version of the aforementioned, the game will be released with glorious, hand drawn, high-def sprites and it’s looking gorgeous.

In addition to the graphical update, there’s a bunch of new artifacts added and a few tweaks here and there which will address some of the multiplayer issues people had with the original. Players will also be able to go back and replay segments, which I’m told is a much needed additon.

Expect it to release in late summer.

Source: GameSetWatch

Of course this is just how many have been sent out to retailers, Square Enix will not confirm how many of these have actually been sold. This bumps up the overall Final Fantasy games shipped worldwide to 96 million. A massive number, but there’s a whole lot of ports out there.

Well, when I saw the new video from, one of my favorite bands, Alkaline Trio I couldn’t help but tie the two together and hence this post was born. You’ve got to admit that this video bares some resemblence (however little) to Thatgamecompany’s downloadable masterpiece.

Check out the video after the jump.

*this post also lets me put Trio on the site, but don’t tell anyone.

Well if you’ve never played or even heard of Blue Toad Murder Files, here’s the scoop. The Blue Toad Murder Files series takes place in the town of Little Riddle, where things just love to go horribly wrong. It’s then up to the player to solve the mystery through a series of mini games which usually consist of puzzles, brain teasers, and recalling data picked up throughout the episode to discern the culprit. Episode 3 follows the same exact format as expected. This time around it’s time to figure out who burned down Town Hall. There will be 4 suspects as usual, and players who have already played the first two should have no problem figuring out what to do. Other than it being a different scenario, there is really nothing different about this episode, leaving not much to say.

The new set of brain teasers are excellent, as usual. They all generally borderline challenging and frustrating, which seems like the ideal puzzle in my eyes. Do any of these puzzles really help discover whodunnit? Absolutely not, but they are the real meat of the series, and they excel as expected. The 4 questions that help recap every 20 minutes of gameplay or so also return, and if you actually care about figuring out the culprit before the answer is given to you, you’ll want to pay close attention to be able to answer these questions. Chances are if you can answer all of the questions correctly, it should be fairly obvious who committed the crime. The only problem I have so far is that this series of mysteries have become so formulaic that it’s beginning to become fairly mundane. Even with that being so, Blue Toad Murder Files earns credit for it’s clever puzzle design.

Presentation wise, this episode looks and feels exactly like the other two. Is that bad? Not at all. The puzzles and menus always controlled just fine. As for visuals, I always found the Blue Toad Murder Files series to have quite a charming art style that keep the experience fresh. Everything and everyone still look great.  If there’s one thing I enjoy about the series, it’s getting to know the new characters. The voice acting is more than acceptable at all times and facial animations (despite the game’s cartoony approach), look excellent. Other than that, again, it’s all pretty much the same, and it’s still infinitely better with more than one player.

I’ll admit, this has been one of the most concise reviews I’ve ever written. This is because other than it being a different scenario and different puzzles, there really isn’t anything different. If you’ve never played a Blue Toad Murder Files game, I strongly suggest you read my review of the first two here. You will get a much better idea of what the series is about. As for this being free, I think it was definitely a smart move. Although it’s only free for a month and to those who own the first two, it makes the high asking price a little more bearable. If you like the Blue Toad Murder Files series, it’s obvious to download this. It’s free. I still do like the series and have fun with it, but for those who don’t, this will not by any means change your mind. I really don’t think Relentless Software will find a way to keep the series fresh for the next three episodes, but here’s to hoping they do.

7.0/10

PlayStation 3 Content

Games & Demos:

* Vandal Hearts Flames of Judgement – £9.99
* Just Cause 2 Demo – Free

* Moto 09/10 Demo – Free

Add-On’s:

*Resident Evil 5
o Desperate Escape – £3.99
o Costume Pack 2 – £1.59

* Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising – Overwatch Pack – £3.19
* Dante’s Inferno – Dark Forest – £3.99
* Race Driver GRID – Prestige Pack – £7.99
* Dragon Ball: Raging Blast – Ultimate Warriors Pack 1 (free)

* Karaoke Revolution (Each song £0.79)
o (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman – £0.79
o Against All Odds – £0.79
o Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – £0.79
o Black Velvet – £0.79
o Breakaway – £0.79
o Build Me Up Buttercup – £0.79
o Call Me – £0.79
o Can’t Help Falling In Love – £0.79
o Careless Whisper – £0.79
o Celebration – £0.79
o Complicated – £0.79
o Crazy – £0.79
o Crazy Little Thing Called Love – £0.79
o Easy – £0.79
o Every Breath You Take – £0.79
o Heartbreak Hotel – £0.79
o Holiday – £0.79
o Hot Stuff – £0.79
o How Do I Live – £0.79
o How You Remind Me – £0.79
o If You Don’t Know Me By Now – £0.79
o It’s The End Of The World As We Know It – £0.79
o Lady Marmalade – £0.79
o Let’s Get It On – £0.79
o Material Girl – £0.79
o More Than Words – £0.79
o New York New York – £0.79
o Oops!…I Did It Again – £0.79
o Respect – £0.79
o Saving All My Love For You – £0.79
o Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay – £0.79
o Son Of A Preacher Man – £0.79
o Stand By Me – £0.79
o Straight Up – £0.79
o Sweet Home Alabama – £0.79
o Take On Me – £0.79
o These Words – £0.79
o Time After Time – £0.79
o Unfaithful – £0.79
o Uptown Girl – £0.79
o We Are Family – £0.79
o What Is Love? – £0.79
o You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling – £0.79

* The Beatles: Rock Band – All You Need Is Love – £0.99

* Rock Band
o Downfall by Trust Company – £0.99
o Panic Switch by Silversun Pickups – £0.99
o Sort Of by Silversun Pickups – £0.99
o Third Floor Story by The Mother Hips – £0.99
o White Falcon Buzz by The Mother Hips – £0.99
o Disturbed Pack 02 – £2.49
(contains the following tracks which are also sold separately)
o Meaning of Life – £0.99
o The Game – £0.99
o Voices – £0.99

* Guitar Hero 5
o Blink-182 Track Pack – £4.39
(contains the following tracks which are also sold separately)
o Adam’s Song – £1.59
o All the Small Things – £1.59
o First Date – £1.59

PlayStation Portable Content

Games & Demos

* Patchwork Heroes Demo

Add-On’s

* Echoshift
o Pyramid Level Pack – free
o Cave Level Pack – free

* Buzz!: Quiz World
o Sci-Fi Quiz  – £3.19

* LittleBigPlanet
o Superstar! Gold Rare Sticker – free
o The Canyons Theme – Level Kit – £2.39
o The Canyons Theme – Costume – free

Videos (Free)
* Fallout: New Vegas Tease
* Split Second Standstill Trailer
* Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West Announcement Trailer
* Bomberman Ultra Trailer

Special Offers
* Cellfactor: Psychokinetic Wars – £3.99
* Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix – £3.99
* Age of Booty – £3.99
* Far Cry 2 Fortunes Pack – £2.39
* Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. Supremacy Pack – £3.99
* Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (PSP) – £7.99
* Tom Clancy’s EndWar (PSP) – £7.99
* Chessmaster: The Art Of Learning (PSP) – £7.99