Episode 28

Again I have to appologize for putting this out later then I had hoped. I was at a couple of BBQ’s yesterday. Yes 2 in in one day. Well here is the show.

Direct download Link!

Reviews:

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror – PSP – Stealth action for the PSP – This control system is what splinter cell should have used. They are very easy to grab a hold of. This game is better then Omega Strain for the PS2, even looks quite similar. The levels are split into “Chapters” each running about 10 – 15 minutes the perfect level for a portable game.
Painkiller: Hellwars – xbox – FPS – Arcade style, lots of action / ammo / health. This game has too much action at times, the game starts to chug and drop frames when too many enemies. A nice amount of unlockables each stage has a tarot card that is unlocked by completing s feet. Use ony this weapon – destroy all objects.
Download of the week:

Releases:

DS –

Konductra – puzzel game for the DS –

GBA –

Battle B-Daman – a very odd 3d shooter game – heavy anime influence

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story – RPG with real time elements to the battle

Barnyard – based on the CG movie

LarryBoy and the Bad Apple – colorful platformer

Game Cube –

Barnyard – based on the CG movie

Super Monkey Ball Adventure –

PC –

Big Oil: Build an Oil Empire – oil tycoon –

Barnyard – based on the CG movie

Battleground Europe: World War II Online – giving 14 day free trial –

Dungeon Siege II: Broken World – expansion for DS2 –

FlatOut 2 – driving game with crazy real physics – the launching the driver games wer the hit of part 1 –

Mage Knight Apocalypse – action RPG –

PS2 –

Barnyard – based on the CG movie

LarryBoy and the Bad Apple – colorful platformer

Super Monkey Ball Adventure –

FlatOut 2 – driving game with crazy real physics – the launching the driver games wer the hit of part 1 –

PSP –

Super Monkey Ball Adventure –

Xbox –

FlatOut 2 – driving game with crazy real physics – the launching the driver games wer the hit of part 1 –

Xbox 360 –

Nothin
News:PSP Greatest Hits line up announced – Ape Escape: On the Loose, ATV Off-Road Fury: Blazin’ Trails, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee, Twisted Metal: Head On and Wipeout Pure for just 20 bucks

Sony has become profitable again. That’s SONY the big company not SCE. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3152471

THQ has canceled a couple games Raw vs Smackdown for the PS3 and Soprano’s for the 360.

World of warcraft’s succuss in china – 5 cent an hour. I would still be playing if I could get that rate.

Game makers in Manitoba will get a boost for the provincial government. The Government will cover up to 45% of labour cost. http://tinyurl.com/n8vtz

EA has lost their collective minds. on Aug. 4th there will be a Pay-per-view previerw of the upcoming Madden title. For a cost of 19.95. Then 60 bucks for the game?!?!http://gba.gamespy.com/gameboy-advance/madden-nfl-07/720930p1.html

Episode 27 – Video number 1!

This week we make the jump to video, which should be along in a day or two. This is how we are starting our second half a year by giving our listeners a chance to see the games we praise or hate.

Video’s may not come every week but at least once a month.

To those who dont want to watch, or simply cant stomach our mugs, the audio version will not stop.

Direct Download Link
Announcements

our first video podcast

Mini Reviews

Metal Slug 3 – (xbox) 2D Side scrolling action game – Like R-type final from a few episodes ago this game is dated. This style of game is definatley a dying one. THis game is crazy hard, one hit and your are dead. The stages are really a memory test, the enemies appear in the same place everytime. WIth only 5 levels and a few unlockables this game does of some replay factors but not enough to keep goin for long. A good bargin bin find though

Rogue Solider (ps2) – 3rd Person shooter game. YOu play as “Rogue” a genetic super soldier batteling for Nu-earth. You are part of a super army that gets elimnated making you an army of one. The action never really gets overwelming and is broken up by a ton of short cut scenes/ instructional moments. Ther are some minor stealth elements but not very many. This game brings a couple new elements you can place your main weapon as a sentry gun then circle around the enemy and interactive equipment. Through a series of accidents you closest friends are killed and there “soul” ships are installed in different equipment, one in your gun another in your back pack and a third in your helmet. Not a great game but not terrible either. This title is mediocre at best.

New Releases

DS – nothin

GBA – Game Cube

The Ant Bully – another movie game – 3D platformer –

PC –

Civilization IV: Warlords – expansion for CIV 4 – more units / world wondes / like any other expansion

The Ant Bully – another movie game – 3D platformer –

Total War: Eras – Collector Edition will follow – RTS – another in the TOTAL WAR series –

Earache Extreme Metal Racing – Generic Racing title –

World Racing 2 – A mediocre racing title at best

PS2 –

The Ant Bully – another movie game – 3D platformer

Sprint Cars: Road to Knoxville- mud oval sprint car racing

World Racing 2 – A mediocre racing title at best

Earache Extreme Metal Racing – Generic Racing title

PSP –

Tekken: Dark Resurrection – tekken makes an appearence on the PSP – 30 characters

Wipeout Pure (Greatest Hits) – with multiple downloads – great buy

Xbox –

World Racing 2 – A mediocre racing title at best

Xyanide – shooter game –

Xbox 360 –

Cloning Clyde – live arcade

News

Overclocking the DS is now possible – with a little minor surgury, drill a couple holes and some soldering you can spped up games so they are completely uncontrolable. Story Link!

After a sales increase a new report shows that youth violence is at an all time low. Story Link!

The PS3 has gone into production in Taiwan.

Atari will price Test Drive unlimited at $39.99. Bold move or genious? They are hoping that players will want to download new cars for a price. Story Link.

Playing video games for charity. Play for a cause. MSN will donate $1 to the YWCA for every MSN game badge earned playing the featured game.

Undergroud Boutny Hunter by Cash Only Productions is a FMV game – where you basically choose the next video to watch. THis game cost $25 per attempt to finish, the first person to complete the game will win $100 000. Story Here!.

Episode 26

Well with episode 26 we are nearly at a half a year of Aboot Games.

We are seriously thinking of putting together a video version of Aboot Games but we need to hear from you to see if any wants to see our gorgeous mugs. Send an email to show@abootgames.com.

Announcements

Entertainment Ratings and Labeling Awareness Month Ribbon Colour winner – Spleen green / Inard Purple – tie

Direct Download link!

Mini Reviews

Project Gotham Racing 3 (XB360) – I get the feeling that this review won’t be very popular.

Generations of Choas ( psp) – This game stinks. Turn based strategy game. You start by picking your character, then immediately start the game. For most games that would not be a bad thing, but this does require at least a minimal tutorial. All actions/ commands are given through a menu interface, which took me far too long to figure out. Th graphics are extremely dated, they appear to be the best the SNES had to offer. This game lacks in every aspect and ranks as the worst PSP game I have every played.
Chibi-Robo (GC) –

War Rock ( PC ) – A free alternative to Battlefield – The open beta went live on July 14th. There are 3 game types depending on the size of the map. Mutiple character types Medic/Scout/Combatant/Engineer/Heavy Weapons. This game even includes vehicles, tanks/APC/Gun boats/Helicopters/gun ships. The detail and physics are really well done. I have paid for games worse then this one.
http://www.warrcok.net

http://www.k2hetwork.net

New Releases

DS – GBA – Game Cube

Monster House – based on movie – top down action game

PC –

Wildlife Park 2 – demo available – basically zoo tycoon

Atlantis Quest – puzzle game with 76 levels

PS2 –

Backyard Baseball 2007 – Baseball with kids as the focus – all th mlb teams are here

D1 Grand Prix – This is a drift racing game

Monster House – based on movie – 3d action adventure game

NCAA Football 07 – ea’s college footbal franchise –

PSP –

Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light – another great looking RPG for the PSP

NCAA Football 07 – ea’s college footbal franchise -Miami Vice: The Game – the movie is gonna suck – the game is gonna suck

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth – absolute gorgeous RPG –

Xbox – Xbox 360

NCAA Football 07 – ea’s college footbal franchise –

News

Another new console?! Evo: Phase One – by Envizions Computer Entertainment. A game download machine similar to the phantom. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3152106 / http://www.envizionsinc.com/
Ubi has purchased Driver from Atari – Hopefully the next one will be good – http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/news/?id=13230

After many months of declining sales there was a 25% increase in June. A large part is due to the DS/ low console prices for PS2 and Xbox. http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=13233

Nintendo DS is the Top selling system in North America – Only system to show rowth in every month. http://gonintendo.com/?p=3713

A custom Firmware for the PSP has been released. This firmware appears to allow homebrew software, includes a recovery mode. http://pspupdates.qj.net/Custom-PSP-Firmware-Proof-of-Concept/pg/49/aid/58867

Episode 25 – Quarter Century!!

This week we are on location at the Gladstone hotel in Toronto.

We covered the D-Day event hosted by the Dork Army , We competed in the Free for all, mass killing tournament and played REALLY bad. Those who listened to Episode 24 already knew that.

This week is a little bit short but we did put out 2 shows. The releases are light…again. Next week will have a decent number of new games.

Direct Download Link

Mini Reviews –

Teen Titans (GC) – Not bad 4 player game based on the popular cartoon. Let’s start with the fact that although I am not a huge fanboy of the show, but when it’s on I watch and really enjoy it. Ok so here’s the skinny… Really pretty presentation. It looks as good as the cartoon. You’re completly imerssed in the experience from the music to the load screens the whole game screams Teen Titans. Visually it’s a might cartoony, which is good, the sound is great the theme song is on the money and the characters quips are witty and not too repetetive. Unfortunatly the gameplay doesn’t live up to the rest of the game. It follows the X-Men legends formula of having the whole team on screeen at any given time (5 in this case becuase it’s the teen titans) and of course you can switch between them using the d pad. There are 2 major problems with the gameplay. 1) All the characters play more or less the same. It’s kind of like playing SF and being asked to chosse between Ken or Ryu. Ok we all know Ken is better but if you had to you could play Ryu and not notice that much of a difference. There just isn’t enough incentive to play one character vs. another. 2) You have no camera control and there are a tonne of bright colourful things happening on screen at any given time. It’s just too hard to keep track of yourself enough to engage in meaningful gameplay. Luckily it isn’t too hard so a bit of button mashing combined with some combo mashing and your pretty much good to go. To sum up, great button mashing fun with a few friends, but it’s no X-Men Legends.

Twisted Metal: Head on – Every sony system needs a Twisted Metal game at or near launch, this was the PSP’s version. The the carnage is here with the same story line from all the previous, Condemned souls fight for the right to have a wish granted. The old adage “be careful what you wish for” almost always pops in as the wish turns out wrong and the winner dies. Action is fast paced and easy to follow even with all the explosions going on around you. Mini game hidden in each level will unlock new characters, and full online support did help extend the life of this game, which has sadly past.
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GC) – Another Mario themed sports game. Unlike the others though this game isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In it’s one of the older Mario based sorts titles; although it is a sequel-ish to an N64 title with the same theme. The problem is that the game neither screams Mario by making all of the character vastly different (they do have slightly different abilities and their balls look different when hit…don’t everybodys?) nor does it scream golf. The interface all power slash accuracy bar based so you press a button to get the bar started and then again to indicate power and once more to indicate accuracy. It is at once harder and less intuitive than it’s competition in the golf game genre. My opinion…go out and buy Tiger Woods and put some mario music on it’ll be more imersive in both respects.

God of War – A game that was reviewed by Bryan previously. But I wanted to chime in since I was able to buy this game for 20 bucks. I will be giving my This game rocks for 20 bucks review. I enjoyed playing as an anti hero, one early boss battle you kill the innocent bystanders to regain health, in that it is very evident that you are only looking out for yourself. This game brings very little in advancements to the genre, the mini game kill sequnces are nice but get old. At one point I felt that this was just Prince of Persia with a new skin. Very similar to Bryan’s review, only I will add if you have the chance to buy this game for 20 like I did… Buy it.
Releases: Large number of releases next week.

DS –

Freedom Wings – Airplane combat game for the DS –

GBA / Game Cube – nothin

PC –

Prey – very pretty FPS – Xbox 360 to follow –

Prey – Collector’s Edition

PS2 –

nothin

PSP –

nothin

Xbox –

nothin

Xbox 360 –

Chromehounds – squad based mech action game –

Prey – very pretty FPS – Xbox 360 to follow –
Prey – Collector’s Edition

News:

Sony borrows 80 Billion Yen ( 698 Million Dollars). First loan in 10 years. This one is for development diversification. Click Here for Article

Wii could launch as early as September – CNN Money – Click here for story

Will we see a Microsoft portable by this christmas. Some reports say yes. Bloomberg article

No price drop comin the 360 way.

Episode 24 – Dork Army Special Episode!

This is a special Sunday edition of Aboot Games.

Today we talk to the organizers and contestants of the monthly D-Day Halo League / Tournament hosted by the Dork Army. For more info on the Army and the league, Click Here.
We will have our regular weekly episode tomorrow!

Direct Download Link

Keep Gaming Everyone!!

Episode 23

Well first let me apologize about the lateness of the posting of the show. It is a long holiday week end here in the “Great White North” so I took advantage. The contest winner is announced on the show and we need to hear from the winner before we send out the game.

Aboot Games will be at the Dork Army D-Day event on July 08 at the Gladstone hotel. More info can be found here.

New Voicemail line – 206 222 2668 – 206 22 ABOOT

Direct Download Link

Mini Review:

Wild Arms 4 – RPG with a mediocre story. The game is a little slow to develop, it was an hour in before I saw the opening sequence. The battles take place on a hex system made of 7 Hexagons. There is nothing special to the battle system, all the element have been seen before in other games. There is voice acting in the cut scens only, and the dialouge gets comic book feel to it, as the images slide in and out with each line. If you need to kill time before the release of FF12 or 13 this will fill the void.

The Lost Vikings (GBA)– I mentioned this a few weeks ago in relation to exit for the PSP and I thought well heck I should play this for the show. So here goes… This is an old school side scrollin’ actiony puzzle game. You play as 3 vikings who are lost in a variety of lands. Each of the vikings has unique abilities (the tough guy with the shield can block just about everything and glide if he puts the sheild above his head, the quick guy can ran quickly and jump, and the tough guy has a sword and arrows. You play as all three and try to get to the end of each level by switching back and forth to utilise al of their pecial abilities. It’s can be really challenging and actually quite fun for a bunch of people to try to play together.

Auto Assault – Car Battling MMO – After playing with the video settings for a couple hours I finally got a decent frame rate. This game is like a Twisted Metal MMO. The quests are same as any other MMO – fetch quests – destruction quests. I did get to play Twisted Metal Black online and that game was all the best parts of this one. There really isn’t a lot of people playing which does take away from the total experience.

Book Review

High Score: 2nd Edition – This is a great book for anybody who enjoys video games, history, and for older gamers nastalgia… Ok so that’s everybody. This book chronicles video games from their early days to almost present, it goes to Xbox, in an interesting fashion that is really interesting. You’ll get to see all the details about the ealry games and game companies, you’ll read about the many faces of Atari, the beginnings of EA, and a whole whack of other stuff. Overall it’s a great book for anybody who wants to know the background of the best past time goin’. My only complaint, not enough time spent on games of the 90s and 2000s. I guess we’ll see how revolutionary they were in the next decade.

Releases:

DS, GBA, Game Cube –

Nada

PC –

Roma Victor – NON – fantasy MMORPG – no monthly fee and an interesting fee model –

Terrawars: New York Invasion – acton game, doesn’t look bad but not great either –

For Liberty! – turn based 18th century strategy game – board game look –

PS2 –

Nuthin

PSP –

Nuthin

Xbox –

Nil

Xbox 360 –

The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II – Same as the PC version

News:

Socom III has some new maps well sorta. The 3 extra maps for Socom 2 are back with some added options. You can download them for free until July 12 then they will cost 6 bucks if youare gonna keep em.

Ubisoft has a drop in profits (only 11.9 million Euros/14.9 us) even though sales increased 3%. They seem to be the only ditributor putting out a lot of titles. http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=13091

The deadline are approaching for the 2007 IGF (Independant Game Festival). The deadline for the main competition is Sept. 8, 2006 followed by the IGF Mod competition deadline on Oct. 13, 2006 with the the Student Showcase deadline coming last on November 10, 2006. http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/news/?id=13092

PS1 Emulation on PSP to be available by the end of the year with 7000 available titles. Including Tomb Raider, Castlevania: SOTN, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Silent Hill.