The perfect valentine game-gift: Flower

Valentine is coming and as a gamer this year it's your chance to be traditional and original at the same time as far as the gift for your beloved one is concerned.
Rather than buying your girlfriend or wife the usual bunch of flowers buy her Flower, the just released PSN game by That Game Company.
Flower would obviously be the perfect Valentine gift for a chick gamer but not only, even though your sweetheart is not a game fanatic (yet) you can still purchase Flower for her.

Just create her a personal account on your PS3 and buy Flower, then buy a pad and some lovely gift wrap to make for a nice, tangible, present (unfortunately there are no pink nor red pads yet!). Turn your PS3 on and make her play your gift. It may be a lovely way to incline her to be interested in video-gaming if she's not and a sweet way to say "I love you" to a chick gamer.

Flower does not require much experience with the pad since it makes use of the Six-Axis movement feature and it's very intuitive and easy to play.
It does not require any button pressing either (just hold any button to go on, at least in the first levels) and it can really appeal a girl: beautiful graphic, lovely environments, lots of flowers and a gentle background music (the flowers you catch also emit notes).

A really romantic way to make for a non-traditional present to your girlfriend, wife or someone you'd like to be more intimate with ;) whether she's already interested in gaming or not!

Happy *play-full* Valentine!
Ivy

My 2009 Games

I should probably have started this the 1st January but actually had not thought about it :). I want to keep a list of the games I play to have a record of my background as a chick gamers :). 2009 games (most recent are on top):

Red Faction: Guerrilla (just started)
InFamous (story finished both good and evil, missing stunts for Platinum)
Killzone 2 (story mode to finish, online with the new maps)
Assassin's Creed
Plants VS Zombies (!!! great game!)
Sims 3 (quit after a while, not so exciting after all, much poorer than I expected :()
Heavenly Sword (not finished)
Resistance 2 (only multi)
Loco Roco 2 (playing)
Dawn of War 2 Beta (co-op campaign finished)
Mirror's Edge (story mode finishes, playing Time trials)
Prince of Persia (finished, started in 2008)
Gears of War II (story mode and horde finished)

2008 Games
LBP
Force Unleashed (not finished)
Fable II
King's Bounty the Legend
Spore (:()
Castle Crasher
GTA4
Gran Turismo 5
Everybody's Golf 5

Ivy

Heavenly Sword, a game with two chicks as main characters

Well, it's been out for a while but I got it only recently: it's a platinum title and I thought it was a shame not to have played it and I was totally RIGHT!

All in all this really is a CHICK game, with two beautiful girls (Nariko and Kai) as main characters. Nariko is actually the star but one gets to play Kai as well and also quite a lot which is really fun as one jumps between their two combat styles (melee and ranged) both with their own, very nice, peculiarities!


What's Heavenly Sword? It's a beautiful action-packed game with a great movie-like feel.
The cut scenes really seem a movie, the characters expressions are REAL, the characters are vivid and lively. Each one of them has got a very strong personality (Nariko, Kai, Shen, Flying Fox and so on) and their peculiarity is present in every aspect: expressions, behaviour, movements, way of talking, voice!
What is mostly amazing while playing are the beautiful, large vistas/panoramas and the great cinematic feel/cut of everything, the cinematic is great!
On the "behind the scenes" one of the creators mentions they developed a fighting engine that could handle up to 2000 enemies in the scene and in fact such scenes are really cool, so many people they look like a giant wave of fighters.
The animations are amazing (beautiful and fluid) and combat is very varied and funny, simply spectacular to watch and perform.
There is a great mix of moves, all very dynamic Hong-Kong-movies-like. They took a bit of something of many different martial arts to create a style that is unique and over-spectacular.

The characters are really excellent, on some details one can spot too few polygons and joints don't always look awesome but overall they are really great!
The detail on the skin/textures and the shaders is great, they are just like beautiful renders moving in a very fluid way.

The story is also quite nice, with bits and little revelations discovered while you go on, it feels like you're in a epic movie, like you're driving your own epic battle (which was the developers' goal).

I also really enjoyed to watch the behind the scenes, very insightful and interesting (and a few chick in there too ;))!
I'm really curious to see what Ninja Theory have up their sleeves next since I'm sure they can produce something even more stunning and beautiful after the Heavenly Sword experience!

Want to know more?
Official Site: http://www.heavenlysword.com/
Wikipedia (look out for spoilers!):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavenly_Sword
Ninja Theory site:
http://www.ninjatheory.com/
& http://www.ninjatheory.com/games.php (check there for images!)

Love & Play!
Ivy

The idiocy of fanboysm

The phenomenon of fanboysm has always been a reality in the consoles/games world since the times of Spectrum vs Commodore 64.
We then had Amiga vs Atari, Nintendo vs Sega and Nintendo vs Sony and now it's the time of Sony vs Microsoft with Nintendo somehow on a different level.

Fanboysm is a term with a derogatory nuance in my perception (at least nowadays). When you tell someone that s/he is a fanboy (or fangirl!) you're not really making a compliment, you're not just recognizing them as supporters or fan of something.
I've been called a fanboy once (yeah, fangirl is not yet a "common" world) because I was trying to show the good side of a PS3 to a XBOX360 fanboy (well, he started our conversation with such a sentence: "the XBOX360 is a great machine while the PS3 sucks" so that's what I define a fanboy and what I perceive the term stands for).


While having preferences is obviously a natural and good thing (the world is great because it's varied): everyone has got their tastes, their experiences, their memory linked to special moments and objects; people should also try to have an objective view over subjects and recognize the good and bad aspects of everything/everyone even though they like or dislike it on a general level.

Personally I both have a 360 and a PS3 and my console of choice is PS3 for various reasons.
That said though, for example, I tend to think that Sony sucks as far as marketing is concerned while I really appreciate the fact that MS delivers the same games, same add-ons, same data and services and so on worldwide at the same time (no exclusive content or bundles for Japan or USA or Europe only and so on or at least not so much as Sony does - will EU and USA ever see a white PS3?!?).

**********

What I find really idiot about today Sony vs Microsoft fanboysm (that is PS3 vs XBOX360 since no one seems interested into "insulting" the PS2 or the PSP) is not the enthusiasm or appreciation for one part but the hatred for the opposite part.
Too many times I've read messages, posts or signatures of people stating they would like to see Sony/Sony PS3 to fail. Of course similar messages can also be found on the other side of the fence although Sony PS3 hatred seems a much more rife phenomenon.

Well, obviously these people (hopefully kids even though such hatred from kids would be a painful thing) don't even realize that there are hundreds of families that live on such projects (developers, clerks, manufacturers and so on) and that we should all wish companies to thrive in today's troubled economy rather than the opposite but they probably see the thing more like a navy-battle game rather than something that would have a serious impact on the lives of hundreds of people.


From a pure gamer point of view though what it's really stupid is to not understand that: competition is good for any market. Furthemore Competition is NEEDED on every market because it brings innovation, advancement, investments, development and so on.
Just think about the PC market: while THERE IS competition on the hardware level (think about the AMD vs Intel or GeForce vs ATI duos for example) there is no true competition on the OS one. If there was a REAL alternative to Windows I'm sure it would be a far better and advanced system (if there was no Firefox would the latest IE be so advanced and include so many features?).


That works for the console/game market as well.
Moreover the successful innovations/ideas introduced by one competitor are usually "copied" by the other part, sometimes with improvements (see achievements/trophies), thus generating general improvements and development.

Just to "play/speculate on the subject":
If there was no 360:
- PS3 would probably have been released with even more delay
- we would have much less games (Microsoft has a large budget to invest)
- we wouldn't have the trophy system (because the 360 introduced it with the achievements)
- Sony would probably have kept an higher price for longer
- the list goes on...

if there was no PS3:
- there would be much less innovation in the field (by and large Sony IS a company that brings innovation and PS3 is no exception, perhaps even too much innovative :))
- there would be less games (Sony invests a lot too)
- there would be less innovation on games (think about Little Big Planet or Killzone, both rely on PS3 powerful hardware)
- 360 price would probably be higher (just think about the Wii, it's got no really completition on the casual market and Nintendo does not need to cut the price).
- the list goes on...


On the other hand I'm not saying that people should not complain about things not working or that could be improved, that's fair and it's also fine to point out something done better by the competitors (see the online service from MS at the beginning or console reliability from Sony) so that companies will have to equal the competitor.
We should just try to remain polite and respectful and base our comments and complaints on facts presented in meaningful way.

My conclusion is that as gamers we should support (at least figuratively) every company (be them manufacturers or game developers) playing in the market/field because competition is GOOD for the end-user and the failure of any of the parts would really bring nothing good to us as videogames enthusiasts.
Spend less time flaming and more time gaming!

Greets,
Ivy

Gadgets Freak

This certainly isn't a chick prerogative however I'm a real Gadgets Freak.

I'd say that lately VG producers have found out that the special editions including gadgets may be a good source of extra money, extra hype and extra loyalty too. I mean, when you use your GOW2 mug every day you're not going to forget the game/brand, same story for the Mirror's Edge bag.

There are a few problems for us gadgets freaks though:
- special editions aren't the same worldwide*.
Anyway, in this case my personal policy is: "well, I'll keep my money for something else" :P.
But for those that cannot miss something there's always e-bay although you're probably going to pay gadgets a lot more than they are worth (remember the infamous 77777 Crisis Core PSP?)!

* Well, the most recent case is for the forthcoming Resident Evil 5 *RANT ON*. While they have announced cool collector's Editions for both USA (action figure + necklace+ bag) and Japan (USB pen) and just a metal case for Europe (after all Europe is such a small market: only 8 million PS3 compared to the 7,5 of USA and 2,8 of Japan according to VG Charts, see link: HERE) which obviously is the less worthy market to Sony.

- different chains are offering different pre-order or even non pre-order gadgets: which means you have to check out them all (GameStop, Amazon, BlockBuster, FNAC, play.com) to find out which one is offering what. While I don't usually buy games from such chain stores (it's easy to find better offers outside of them) when there are sweet deals of gadgets I temporary change my mind if I feel the exclusive gadget is worth it: like GOW2 Mugs from BlockBuster (and they also had the game at a special lanuch price low than average) and Mirror's Edge runner's bag from GameStop.


- there are no "chicks" gadgets: if you spot a lovely LBP planet shirt rest assured is a damn large size of a plain male shape, obviously. Unfortunately there are not enough girl yet to have gadgets such as shirts for girl too and the ones for males are usually very large too!


- missing gadgets: some characters, concepts etc. just seems done to generate loads of gadgets, yet, there are none. An example? Little Big Planet.
They really have to explain me why there are no gadgets for LBP, I mean, they could even make a complete and awesome toy line with the concept, something like the LEGO packages and constructions but much more beautiful and advanced; c'mon you didn't even make a sackboy for the public even though lots of people cried out for the gadget!?!?!

release me!

Greets!
Ivy

Games to play with your fiancé

While the opposite is certainly not true it is very likely that a girl gamer has got a gamer boyfriend, fiancé or husband so what's better than playing games with your beloved one?


Little Big Planet (PS3): This would probably be my 2008 GOTY with Gears of War 2.
It's an awesome game/platform to play with your fiancé and up to other two players, just in case. Playing it on your own is very fun but co-op is probably funnier. Cooperation is good in that you can help each other overcome obstacles, reach prizes and points (bubbles) and so on. There are also a few parts that can be only

Gears of War 2 (XBOX360): Gears is addictive. Its style, the story, the characters, everything pushes you to go on and on. By playing co-op one is Marcus while the other plays Dom. It's very good per se and really fun to play with your mate!
Once the main story is over the Horde is another addictive game play, it's definitely one of those games with a very long life, you don't just play it and you're done.
We haven't explored the other features yet, Horde wave 20 at hard mode is not easy to overcome! Challenging, fun and addictive!

Bionic Commando (PSN): this is a lot of fun and very well done, the peculiar game play makes is definitely worth it and it's nice to play co-op. My only complain is that the final level (and it's hard to get to it) is totally insane!!!

Castle Crasher (XBLA): well this is an easy one but really it's fun. The graphic is lovely, very well done, levels are well built and it keeps being challenging. We finished it 3 times to unlock "cuter" characters!

Grand Turismo: Prologue (PS3): this is a great game to play with your fiancé and actually the whole family (my dad loves it!) and you can challenge all the others to see who gets the best lap record.
Of cours arm yourself with a wheel: it makes it 10 times the fun and it's much more playable by those not accusomed to the pad too!

Rainbox Six (PC): While the latest installment, Vegas 2, let us a bit down (a bit too buggy, I also completely lost my character in mid game), this is a co-op classic and the very first shooter me and my fiancé played together.

Warhammer 40.000 Dawn of War (PC): this is great in co-op because you can either collaborate against the computer (what's funniest than seeing Chaos & Space Marines collaborate against the AI?) or you can play against each other with your own techniques and tactics to overcome each other!

Burnout Paradise (PS3): well, it definitely is fun and also funnier if you race with your beloved one! One can host a game for up to 8 players or you can just play and race just you two challenging each other to see who's the faster or who's the smarter in choosing the best streets or shortcuts and so on!

Army of Two (PS3/XBOX360): while this wasn't such a big game it still was moderately fun to play with my fiancé. Well, the story is not one that you will never forget and so the characters but still a few entertaining hours of gameplay. It's not at the top of the list but if you're in a "low" moment of co-op games can still fill the gap ;).

Brain Training (PSP): not a "true" game with capital G but still it's nice to challenge your mate on the various subjects, while he may be better in maths you may amaze him with your fantastic reflexes (and training yourself half an hour everyday to give your best for the challenges it's not cheating, it's being competitive!).

HOME (PS3): well, lets' face it, HOME is cool and it is cool that you can meet there up with your partner and share the experience. You can play together several games: chess, checker, billiard, bowling and more to come!
Moreover you can also have fun re-creating yourselves as HOME avatars!

Young Chick gamers need smaller pads!

The other day my 9 years old niece came to our house, it'd been a while since last time she came so I had not yet had a chance to let her try LBP.
Obviously after an hour or more of level playing she simply wanted more!
She loved the game, was laughing out loud, was hysterically shaking at some points: to sum up she was having fun, a lot of fun.

There was also only little problem, it was a bit hard for her to use the X and R1 buttons together not because she wasn't able but because her hands are quite small, you can imagine that.

So I wonder... why Sony and MS don't create a slightly smaller pad that can better fit kid's hands?
That would really make playing games more enjoyable for kids and perhaps even to some girls since I do have a couple of girl friends with very small hands, almost child-like.
Maybe such smaller pads could be bundled with games that specifically target children: something like the pokemon series or stuff like that (Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E and anything that is primary created for kids).


But to tell the truth they could even go a step further: while smaller pads for kids would be great some adults also have very large hands so creating 3 pad sizes would be perfect: standard, small and large.
I can understand maybe the additional sizes couldn't feature all the coloursdecorations available and so on (*irony on* well, not much of a problem at least in Europe as far as PS3 pad colours are concerned *irony off*) but still they would be a great feature to propose and show the public, wouldn't them?

Ivy