GTA 4

The title pretty much says it all. The teaser trailer for Grand Theft Auto 4 has been released. Like probably every website in the world - you can watch the video below:

PS3 Launch

Well the PS3 has launched in the UK last Friday and we could be forgiven into thinking NASA was behind their "Launch". Because as some of Nasa's launches into space, this one was screaming "Sony we have a problem". Today report shows that HMV in Brighton still has 50 out of their original 55 launch stock - selling a whopping 5 consoles!

Quick - by the time you get to the store they might have 51 PS3's left (due to someone returning the unwanted console!).

JetBack

Back on the 8th of Feb I posted a Blog regarding a rumour of a remake to JetPac coming to Xbox Live Arcade. Well the rumour has now been confirmed as reality and next Wednesday it will be released on the arcade for 400 Microsoft points. Official details of the game are below:

• Two versions of the game; Retro – The classic 1980s version. Refuelled – Rare’s 2007 remake of the classic Jetpac comes complete with entirely new hi-def graphics, menacing enemies, new smartbombs that produce an electromagnetic pulse, modernized weapon upgrades and updated gameplay for modern gamers
  
• 12 Achievements and 200 Gamerscore points
  


• Completely updated graphical look of the game gives Xbox LIVE Arcade gamers a truly hi-def and in-depth gaming experience

Lets hope that my initial fears will be put to rest - or will we be playing hi-res spectrum graphics? (if there is the possibility of such a thing!)

Viewer Discretion Is Advised

The following uses the original Halo game to create a rather clever and quite amusing video. Special prize available to any reader of the site that can tell me how many times the A-Hole word is used throughout the vid!

Monkey Island - The Play!

Now I thought I was a Monkey Island fan, but these guys take it one step further - recreating the game in a real life play. Check out the video below for part 1 of the Monkey Island play.

Finish The Graphics

Halo 3's main game quote is "Finish The Fight" of course referring to ending the Halo trilogy, however as anyone who has seen the graphics on the screen shots previously released will know it looks in relation to Gears of War that they need to finish the graphics first!

That said the recent update on the Bungie website has stated that the graphics have come on a long way from previously shown. Microsoft/Bungie need to ensure that Halo 3 looks on par if not better than Gear of War to really show the power of the Xbox 360.

I really hope that they pull it off, as it would be a shame if the graphics just looked like a higher resolution from Halo 2. If Halo 3 lives up to it's expectations and the graphics are amazing I'm sure it will help finish the fight against Sony

It Was A Time Of War

With the imminent launch of the PS3 in the UK the console war is about to begin. Microsoft vs Sony vs Nintendo - Each will put their champions forward for the fight. Who will win?
At this point it's unsure, but check out the video below for an idea of the carnage instore:

Resident Wii-vil

It appears that my earlier blog post isn't the only news from Capcom today. Resident Evil is heading to the Nintendo Wii in a new game entitled Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. No further details regarding the game have been released, yet this news alone is enough to make some people wii their pants! (sorry)

PS3 May Cry

PS3 has lost another exclusive title - Devil May Cry 4 is now headed to the Xbox 360.

Although I'm not currently a fan of the series* - i'm sure a lot of PS3 fanboys are definitely crying right now (pun intended!).
* Probably only because I haven't played any of the games from the series - however something tells me I'll be playing this one :)

Monkey Island Spin Off

If like myself, you are a big fan of the point and click adventure games (especially Monkey Island) then you might be glad to hear about this.

Unfortunately there is no news that point and click adventures of old will be making a return (although expect a blog campaign soon!), however never fear because a homemade spin off of Monkey Island has been made called "Night of the Hermit" - this game features Herman from Monkey Island as it's main character.

Below is details regarding the story to the game:
It has now been 8 years since that pesky Guybrush left the Island. Herman has spent all of the money that he earned from that game, and things have started looking pretty bleak. Then one day a message in a bottle shows up, saying that his grandfather has died and left him his big mansion on Badger Island, somewhere in the Caribbean. So with visions of starting a new life, Herman packs his few belongings and sets out to claim his inheritance. But the thing about bottle mail is that it's slow, very slow. So by the time Herman gets to Badger Island, he finds that someone claimed the mansion years ago, and turned it into the sleazy Crippled Badger Motel. Herman decides to spend everything that he has left (which is 12 dollars, 45 cents, and some moss) for one night at the motel, determined to find a way to reclaim what is rightfully his. And this is his story.

If you want to download this game, you can for free at the creators website following this Link - Then click the game section and scroll down a few games until you see it!

Although I haven't played it yet I will be trying this out shortly!

Rsxl Returns!

After a long period of silence - Rsxl has returned to his blog. I'm sure my amazing return to Blogger would make a better movie than "Superman Returns" (to be fair that wouldn't be a hard challenge).

Anyway fears that I had been kidnapped can be put to rest.

So the reason for my absence???

Well I don't really have one, I guess my creative juices had stopped flowing....I'm hoping that dry period has now passed and that you continue to enjoy this site (what do you mean you never enjoyed it anyway???).

Microsoft Listen?

It seems that someone in Microsoft is listening. After numerous posts from myself regarding the state of Xbox Live Arcade, over the last few weeks I cannot complain. Alien Hominid was released (and although I'm not a fan of the game I can see it's appeal to others), then the next arcade release was Worms at the respectable price of 800 Microsoft points and it happened to not just be a port of a previous Worms game. Tomorrow another title is released (details of the title released can be found on Wilky's Blog using the link provided - so as not to steal his blog post) and is being put up at the excellent price of 400 Microsoft points (Cowabunga).

The game in question was an arcade favourite of mine when I was a kid and I spent a lot of money playing the game. I especially remember one family holiday where I was playing the game in the arcade in the area and almost got beat-up by some kids much older brother due to an alleged credit stealing on the game (which I want to go on record as saying it did not happen and I played as the same character the whole time) needless to say the said beating never happened, probably due to the much older brother realising I had obviously honed my ninja skills playing the game!*

Tomorrow will tell if the game has stood the test of time, however hopefully this is a continued sign of things to come and the new breed of Xbox Live Arcade titles.

So two clues in there in relation to the game being released, however as stated if you still have no clue follow this link.

*This is a true story, except for the ninja part.....actually I just think he was scared of me full stop!

G.R.A.W 2-short

I afraid to say that G.R.A.W 2 seems to be 2-short (get it "too short"). After not even playing the game for a day I have almost completed it- the only reason I haven't is that I had to force myself to come off so I could experience it longer. However this said the fact I had to force myself off the game shows that it is still an excellent game, and although it seems shorter than the first game as always the online aspects will keep this going for much longer with numerous options available.

Achievement Update Part 2

This is possibly my final update for the day. So since my last update I started gaming again around 12.55pm and was only slightly disturbed between 2.30pm - 3.05pm due to my fridge/freezer being fixed. Anyway since 3.05pm until 6.20pm I have been solid gaming. So what is my points increase since last post? Well I've increased my gamerscore by 110 points to 8294. So I've increased my score today by 155 points (which let me tell you is far removed from what I had planned) - so where did it all go wrong? Well instead of just focusing on my new game (Graw 2) I decided to try a mix of games. I guess in the end I wasn't ready for that intense focus to unlock the most achievement points, instead I was happy to try and gather some more orbs on crackdown and unlock some of the wacky achievements along with some other great games along the way.

Achievement Update Part 1

So straight after my previous post I booted up the 360 to start my day of achievements - suddenly a knock at the door (oh no I think as i realise my gaming has been interrupted). Anyway all was not lost - it was my copy of Graw 2 arriving (Thank you Postman Pat - not my postman's real name).
I quickly load up the game to start my mission gaining - I quickly unlock 5 achievements boosting my gamerscore by 45 points (new gamerscore 8184). Then at 9.59am exactly my mate Benwahwah comes online and challenges me to some online gaming (Suddenly I am faced with the types of choices Jack Bauer would have to make) anyway I decide to put aside my mission for some online action.
12.20pm: I quickly come offline from my online sessions to update my blog and get a quick bite to eat after I post this. In 2hr 21 minutes I have unlocked an extra 0 gamerpoints - however I did kick some major ass on Blitz the league!

Achievement Hunting

I've decided to set myself a bit of a challenge today - to increase my Xbox 360 gamerscore (which as I write this currently stands at 8139). Hopefully if I can pull myself away from the 360 long enough, I will document my progress on my blog.
Sorry this post is short and sweet but I've got some gaming to do!

The Saviour Of Xbox Live Arcade

Worms was released this morning on Xbox Live Arcade and I am pleased to say it was worth the wait. Worms has always been a game that would be suited to Xbox Live Arcade, and finally we have an arcade title that is brilliant and great value for money. Now regular readers of this site will know that my praising Xbox Live Arcade is a very rare thing and I honestly hope this is a sign of things to come as I really do love the Xbox 360 - I just don't always agree with the Live Arcade titles released!

The Real Ewok Story

Quotes from the film:

"The film George Lucas didn't want you to see"

"The dark side of the Ewoks"

"Hey you stole this from my Blog"

Ok so that last quote was actually in relation to this post on my blog. You see I normally like my blogs to be my creative spin on life, however I was checking out some other blogs today and stumbled across a site called "Quit Your Day Job" which created the above scenario and background story to the film.
So I hope in some small way my posting here will help others to stumble across their site.

Note: If the creators of this piece are offended by my posting here I will remove this section.

CO-OP Rising?

It seems rumours at the moment suggest that the platinum edition of Dead Rising will feature a new co-op mode bolted onto the game. That's right forget killing zombie in Willamette, instead you will face hoards of zombies in your local co-op supermarket!

Ok so I made that last bit up (but it would be cool right), however it is true that the platinum release of Dead Rising may feature 2 player co-operative zombie killing which fans of the game have been crying out for.

Now this feature I thought would have been held back for Dead Rising 2 - however it looks like Capcom want to thank the fans. So what does it mean for the like of myself that own the original game, will I have to buy the new version??? The answer it seems is no - instead if this feature is added then it appears that an update will be available on Live.....but at a price!

So now the debate starts on whether you would buy the new content which is just a co-op mode (not that this isn't a big thing) or do you disagre that new purchases of the game get the feature for free.

Either way I hope this turns out to be true as I have been looking for a good reason to go back and play the game.

The Sound Of Music.....

....explosions etc sound better in surround sound. Whenever I visit my good friend Wilky however I always think of the following clip (I wonder why???)

The Simpsons Movie

(Snazzy title eh!) - Anyway moving swiftly on, it seems like the age old question of "Is there a God"....sorry I mean "Will a Simpson's movie be any good?" will be answered on 27th of July.
Now Simpson's is the greatest TV show on earth - fingers crossed that the movie lives up to everyones expectations. Below is the trailer for the movie:

Lunar-tic Update

As promised in my previous post here is some pics of the lunar eclipse:
FULL MOON HALF MOON

TOTAL ECLIPSE!!!

Ok I admit I didn't actually take any pictures of the lunar eclipse (only because the pics my camera took were even worse than the above!).

Hope those in the area got to watch the real thing though.

Full Moon.....Half Moon.....

.....Total Eclipse!
Seems there is a total eclipse tonight - If I can get some pictures I'll post an update tomorrow.

Hardcore Diaries

Now I realise with a title like "Hardcore Diaries" that I might have some extra visitors to the site (perhaps via Google searches!) expecting to read some hardcore xxx rated action regarding yours truly (at this point anyone that actually knows me shudders in disgust - possible even saying "ewwwwwww"). Sorry to disappoint you (or should that be please you) by stating I am actually referring to Mick Foley's new book.

I'm sure anyone that has read Foley's previous two books, Mankind: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks & Foley is Good (surely a typo lol) will enjoy this book.
Foley provides a great incite into the world of wrestling and his personal life in a humorous way that keeps the reader wanting more.
I recommend anyone to buy this book - but don't just take my word for it as Mick Foley is also a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author.

Google Whack!

This is my first post in a few day (and my first post in March), so I better have something good to report. Well I have - my blog has made it onto Googles search engine.

Ok so this might not be as exciting to those reading this, but to myself this is truly a day to remember. So for those of you who do not have my site in your favourites list (why not???) you can type "Rsxl" in Google and my site will be listed. Although I haven't tried any other types of searches there is the possibility that the keywords "rubbish" and "mind numbing" might also work!.