Activision Blizzard certainly doesn’t dillydally. As expected, the publisher and developer is already touting the massive success of Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. A mere day after launch, the company issued a press release declaring it “the biggest launch in history across all forms of entertainment.” Bold words, but they are backed by astonishing figures.

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LittleBigPlanet holds a special place in my heart.

Fans of the Blu Show podcast may know that I had an almost year-long bet with my co-host Frawlz, where I proposed LBP would outsell Killzone 2 in each games’ first six months on the market.  LBP didn’t let me down; I won the bet, but have yet to actually collect my winnings (but that’s another story for another time).

What I want to discuss today is Sony’s decision to take their LBP PS3 success and throw it away “duplicate” it on the PSP.  For you see, the embargo on discussing LBP PSP is up today and I’ve got a few things to say about the game…

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Michael Atkinson just doesn’t get it. The South Australian attorney general has penned a letter explaining his staunch opposition to a R 18+ rating for computer games in the country, which can be read at Grow up Australia, a site in support of a classification above the current MA 15+ marking. In the piece, Atkinson defends the current structure, even though it “restricts adult liberty to a small degree.” He opines on what he believes to be a troubling amount of violence in society, and the need to protect children and “vulnerable” adults from excessive gore. His concerns are certainly admirable, I’ll give Atkinson that.

However, it is not his duty – nor that of the government – to act as a dam for adult content.

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Sarcastic Gamer has been given an inside exclusive on a Left4Dead2 story of momentous importance and significance. Sure to shock the gaming world, this news is so fresh we do not even have pictures to prove it has happened. You are just going to have to rely on something thin on the ground in these modern days of evil globe conquering Internets – that of trust.

Trust, that we at Sarcastic Gamer would not lie to you — except every Friday, where we do Fiction Friday, oh and every time we talk about Frawlz’s known whereabouts, and, um, the fact we haven’t told you that Doc has been replaced by an evil cyborg from the future, oh and also that time I told Rothbart I really did have an Atari 2000 rather than admitting a typing mistake — apart from THOSE times, we would never, EVER lie to you…well…unless we had to for some reason… But now is not one of those times!

For all the hair raising (or trimming) truths better buzz on over to the next page…

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It was a moment of extreme satisfaction; the cap to a short, yet mentally taxing journey. An accomplishment that one tends to gloat over, raising a fist while proclaiming: “Fuck yes, I won the day.” Despite my trials, I persevered, and emerged stronger as a result.

For some, Braid is an artistic gem, offering gorgeous, stylized visuals and an equally impressive score. I certainly won’t provide a counterargument. However, to me, the challenges make the experience.

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Is it real or a game?

I vowed not to crack open my copy of Modern Warfare 2 until I beat Demon’s Souls, but seeing as every suka bliad (that’s Russian transliteration, peeps) podcast I listen to can’t help but smirkingly spoil parts of the single player campaign for me,  I really didn’t have a choice.  I decided to break it open and start grinding through it.

As I started playing through the first half of the game, I realized the level of reality has jumped exponentially from my days on my Atari 2600.  But is there a point where video games get too real…er?

Big SPOILER ALERT comes for after the jump.

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I know we are still a long way pre-natal but since we are “post-natal announcement” I half expected to find Natal at the Eurogamer Expo as this was the best chance to give an early showing to the British public. To my surprise there were absolutely no signs of it.  People seem very apprehensive to talk about it, or at least not keen to go on record with anything concrete. While there are leaked details of a low price, the details of the games being made are currently still limited.

Are Microsoft being heavy handed with gag orders regarding their new baby or do people just not want to risk burning their bridges with the Microsoft mother company? Will I avoid answering this question or prove that you can not silence the enthusiast press…? (more…)

No longer simply a battleground over exclusive content and third-party support, the console war now plays host to an inane slap fight for multimedia features, many of which – excluding Netflix of course – have no business on game systems. Consider Facebook, already dated for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and reportedly – credit to Scrawlfx – coming to the XrossMediaBar. If true, it could come across as an overt “me too” move by Sony, though the publisher and developer must perceive that it will add value to its Blu-powered box, possibly attracting new clients in the process. According to those clever and often humorous commercials, “it only does everything.”

To me though, it’s just more clutter for the XMB, and yet another feature that I’ll ignore.

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God bless you, sir; you're doing the Lord's work.

It seems a game can’t release any more without pissing off one demographic or another.  Within hours of a press release over a new game, people are sharpening pitchforks and setting torches ablaze with something to be furious over.   Whether it be Left 4 Dead 2’s extensive online protest over it’s less-than-a-year after launch sequel, or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s lack of dedicated PC servers, there’s always something for unsatisfied psychotics to complain about.

But, what a surprise, it looks like neither uproar did anything to slow down sales for either game.  Let’s take a look at the numbers after the jump.

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I don’t know what to think about the controversial level of Modern Warfare 2 called “No Russian.” On one hand, it’s obviously grotesque, but on the other, it’s supposed to be a narrative tool to show just how villainous the game’s “Big Bad” really is.

Me? I just think its Infinity Ward attempting to be “shocking” and trying to one up their nuke blast death scene from Call of Duty 4. Why? because of how absolutely unnecessary the whole scene is.

The video of the scene for reference and a little discussion, after the jump.

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Remember that old dog Call of Duty 4? We did a big ole post on helping the newbies out in Call of Duty 4’s unforgiving, yet completely addicting multiplayer a couple of years ago.  Turns out, that little old post was and still is one of the most viewed pieces of content on this whole site.

Well, the sequel to that fine game is out and Modern Warfare 2 could possibly be the biggest selling FPS of all time. That means lots of newbs.  If you fall into the “newb” category, should you fear the onslaught of CoD4 regulars? Should you cower in fear of high level prodigy’s smoking you from across the map.

One word: Nope. Why, because Modern Warfare 2 has balanced all that stuff out for you, to maximize your starting effectiveness and have produced, arguably, the most balanced first person multiplayer experience ever. Click on over to find out more.

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I’ve been hosting the Sarcastic Gamer PlayStation Podcast along with Frawlz and PacmanPolarbear for well over a year now, so it should come as no surprise that I really like the PlayStation platform.  When we started the show, we had to put up with a large amount of legitimate “crap” over things like inferior multiplatform titles, fewer exclusives, inferior online offering, etc.  The list was substantial and I don’t think we’ve ever tried to hide that fact on our show.  Over the course of late 2008 and 2009 things really took a turn for the better in PlayStation-land.  But lately, that same sour taste has returned… and it tastes… like sh*t! (more…)

I understand that games are pretty expensive compared to other forms entertainment media.  I also understand that people just steal things.  I used to work retail and witnessed several people steal things just to steal, they had no particular use for what they were stealing. That said, there have been a number of “WTF were you thinking about?!?!” gaming theft stories lately. (more…)