Kendra On Wordpress

Well, only one month from now and MGS4 will have finally arrived and gamers around the world with a PS3 like yours truly will finally have our paws on what could be called Snake’s final mission. With the game already complete and only a month to go Konami held a Completion Party over in Japan today and unveiled a bunch of new videos including some live action tv spots, and an awesome brand new theatrical trailer. Also present at the event was Kojima himself who played through the first 40 minutes of the game on a large movie screen in front of the audience.

The party revealed some surprising info though. Remember that April Fool’s Assassin’s Solid video with Snake dressed as Altair from Assassin’s Creed (here for those that didn’t see it)? Well, apparently it wasn’t fake afterall, as you can actually unlock an Altair costume for Snake to wear throughout the game although it hasn’t been revealed just how you’ll be able to unlock it.

Gameplay wise, the only other thing that was revealed is that some new tie-in promotions will be appearing in the game such as Regain 24 hour energy drinks which Snake can use, a Sony Ericson cell phone that Vamp and other characters will be using, a new motorcycle that Eva (aka Big Mama) will be driving (similar to the one she used in MGS3), and an Ga-Ko alarm clock which will play some role in the game. The most interesting promotional tie-in though is definitely the I-Pod. Yep, thats right there’s an I-Pod in the game. In fact once you find the I-Pod item in the game you’ll be able to pick up various cds and songs during the game and can even listen to the songs as you play through the game (an in-game I-Pod how awesome is that?) which is pretty damn cool if you ask me.

The event must have been a blast especially getting to watch Kojima play 40 min. of MGS4 on a large movie theater screen (*drool*). The new english theatrical trailer for the game that I mentioned above has to be the best and most epic MGS4 trailer yet in my honest opinion. The trailer features Mr. Movie Trailer Voice Guy and is just like a Hollywood blockbuster movie trailer with lots of interesting and epic new footage (in fact a friend of mine just walked in as I was watching this and asked me what movie it was from cause they thought it was a movie at first). I wouldn’t consider it real spoilery or anything(I didn’t find it spoilery in the slightest) but if your super spoiler sensitive or have been avoiding watching any trailers then you might want to avoid this as well. Those who don’t mind seeing one hell of a kickass new trailer for the game can check it out in high quality on GameTrailers right here . You can also check it out on YouTube below, though nothing beats seeing it in high-quality Quicktime at GT.

For those that don’t care about major spoilers you can also check out the 10-13 minute intro video (first 13 minutes of the game to be exact) that Kojima played through which was posted earlier here as well. I haven’t watched it so I can’t speak on how spoilery is it or isn’t (edit: just heard that its not that spoilery, and is just Japanese gameplay footage of what happens after the opening of the game so its not the opening itself) but obviously since it is the beginning of the game it will have some spoilers in it so watch at your own peril (personally speaking though just seeing trailers and a few brief gameplay videos is enough for me, so I’ll pass on watching the intro videos and anymore gameplay vids until I get to play it myself next month, it is only a month away afterall). In other news though the Official UK Playstation Magazine posted their first review of MGS4 in the latest issue and its got a 10/10 as to be expected but its good to hear nonetheless.

MGS4 - Theatrical Trailer

While Samantha Newark may not be a household name, those who grew up in the 80’s know her from the classic smash hit cartoon series Jem And The Holograms as the speaking voice of the main character Jerrica and her alter ego Jem, the pink haired lead singer of the all girl pop/rock group Jem & The Holograms. However, although Samantha Newark provided the voice of her, it was Britta Phillips who recorded the singing voice of Jem in the cartoon but their voices were so similar it was virtually impossible to tell them apart.

That being said, Samantha herself is also an accomplished musician, whose original music and stellar vocals have been used in tv shows such as Gossip Girls, Punked, Laguna Beach, Life Is Wild, and My Super Sweet Sixteen. Over the last few years Samantha has been hard at work on her first album while keeping busy singing and doing voice work for various videogames such as God of War, Wild Arms 3, and many more. Now her long awaited debut cd is finally here, with 12 original songs full of infectious uplifting, and very modern Pop Music. Co-written and produced by multi instrumentalist and songwriter Johnny Douglas the cd blends smart, acoustic based songwriting with contemporary touches of viby electronica, crowned with her rich, distinctive, highly expressive and powerful vocals that will surprise you and make you wonder why they didn’t get Samantha to do the singing voice of Jem as well.

The first single off the cd is called Jemboy (the gender opposite of Jemgirl, a popular phrase used in the tv show theme song), a very fun and catchy title that pays tribute to her Jem fans around the world. The song and video itself is great. It almost has that Jem sound to it and is a feel good song that sounds like it would fit right in with the show and is really catchy. Most surprising is that Sam personifies Jem/Jerrica in the video, and looks alot like her, wearing a pink dress similar to something Jem might’ve wore, and those truly outrageous pink star earrings that Jem used to wear all the time. Just watching the video takes me back and reminds me of when I used to watch that show all the time. Personally, I think its really cool of her to record a song and video like this for her Jem fans.

This is pretty cool. Definitely suprising for me since I actually didn’t know that Samantha could sing. I mean I used to idolize Jem as a kid and used to love the cartoon so I knew she did the speaking voice of Jerrica/Jem but other than I didn’t really know much else about her. Thats why I was shocked when I read that the voice of Jem just came out with a cd and even more so when I watched the video since I thought she’d sound similar to Britta Phillips. But she has a great distinct voice and I love the song and video. Hopefully she’ll do well with the cd.

Be sure to watch the music video for her new single Jemboy below. To find out more about Samantha’s new cd, you can listen to some samples of the songs and buy the cd through Amazon here, or through her official site right here.

What do you get when you take Keiichiro Toyama - the creator and director of the very first Silent Hill game, several other key members of the original Team Silent, put them all together to create yet another brand new freaky Japanese horror game once again featuring an isolated town with a mysterious history, a local cult hellbent on reviving their worshipped god, and a bloodstained darkness that sweeps through the land accompanied by thick fog, raining blood and a loud siren? You’d get Siren, one creepy as hell horror/stealth game that came out for the PS2 in 2004.

The first Siren was a great game, though some were put off by the difficulty of the game and some aspects of the gameplay most major game sites gave the game mostly positive reviews as both critics and survival horror fans such as myself enjoyed and appreciated the game for its more unique gameplay approach, the dark complex story and fascinating characters and undeniable creepiness usually brought upon by the game’s deadly and memorable Shibito zombie-like enemies. Ofcourse as with most horror games, the game was followed by a sequel Siren 2 in 2006, which was said to be even better than the first as it fixed most of the complaints some people had about the difficulty and gameplay of the first game. The sequel was an even bigger success in Japan and was released in english in Europe, unfortunetly for reasons unknown Sony opted not to release the english version of the game in North America, and the sequel has since remained unreleased here.

Its now been 2 years since the last Siren game. Since then Sony has moved onto next-gen consoles with the PS3 and there hasn’t been any new info about what Toyama and his crew have been up to. Some have speculated over the last few months that he might be working on a new IP for the PS3, but nothing was officially confirmed. Thats all changed now though as recently Sony and Team Siren unveiled their new game for the PS3 with the release of an amazing new trailer for the game, and surprisingly enough its a brand new Siren game. Titled Siren: New Translation this new Siren installment isn’t a sequel but more of a remake or re-telling if you will of the first Siren game, only this time focusing on a mostly American cast of characters to appeal to a more Western audience.

Most surprising of all is the fact that the game is currently 90% complete and will be releasing in Japan as soon as July. Good news though for Europeans, according to a recent post on the Official European Playstation message boards the game will be getting a European release under the title Siren: Blood. Unfortunetly, there’s no word yet on a North American release date. Though with an American cast with english voice acting (much better than the British acting in the first game), and a Hollywood Siren movie in the works by GhostHouse productions the game definitely has a much stronger chance of getting released here in NA as well this time.

Being a PS3 remake of the first game, the visuals have been dramatically improved from the previous PS2 games, with the setting once again taking place in the Japanese village of Hanuda in 2007. This time the game will feature a total of 12 episodes (chapters I assume as the first game was also made up of several different chapters and missions for each different character you’d play) and will involve an American film crew who have just arrived at the village as it starts raining blood and everyone begins turning into the undead.

In addition to the english speaking American characters there will be a few Japanese characters that you will play as well, though its unknown if you’ll just play as those 8 in the poster above or more (though fans of the first game will note that several characters seem similar to some of the characters and Shibito in the first with a young American teen taking the place of the main character Kyoya, another little girl like Hayumi, another Japanese girl who looks identical to Miyako, and another creepy Shibito nurse who resembles Mina/Risa of the first game). Toyama has explained the reason for the American cast is that he wanted to show Japanese horror from the perspective of a different culture.

Despite having an American cast, the distinctive style of Japanese fear and the basic gameplay mechanics remains the same as the previous Siren games but with a few fine-tuned tweaks and updates to make things even better than before including a new map that will show your position in a 3D view which will enable you to better grasp your surroundings (I’m told this feature was first used in Siren 2). The recent Famitsu magazine a few weeks ago have also confirmed that sightjacking will be back with numerous improvements implemented that will give players a more direct view of the game without stopping the action.

This new sightjacking system will make it so that you’re better able to understand the movements of the Shibito as you see through their eyes, though no further details were given about the new sightjacking features. And yes, thats right, the creepy ass Shibito’s (undead Japanese enemies of the first game) will be the main enemies of the game again and will come in a whole bunch of new and different varieties. This time the Shibito will be much faster, and more aggressive than ever and will have a new AI with more detailed mannerisms and variable movements/actions for example destroying through objects and obstacles to attack you.

Because of this the combat has been improved, you’ll see enemies blood stains on characters clothing and as a whole the game will be much more action-oriented as the characters you control will have more actions of their own as well but without being too complicated, such as having some actions performed automatically. As a result the game will feel much more natural and be abit more faster paced.

In addition to this, the link-navigator system of the first game which enabled you to choose which chapter or mission you wanted to do next has been dropped and replaced by an episodic story structure like that of a tv series with different episodes following the previous ones with each chapter having its own opening and ending sequence. However, the story will still be non-linear (like the Ju-on series) in that it jumps back and forth in time with different characters and events just like the first one but in a set order this time and will also once again feature various objectives/missions for each chapter.

Thats not all though, PS3 owners that go online right now also have the option of downloading a brand new demo of the game that was released in Japan (though you do have to have a Japanese account to download the demo) via the Playstation Store on April 24th. From what I’ve been told the demo is pretty short with just two stages for a total length of about 10 - 15 min. but is very impressive and gives a good idea of how the game will work though it sadly ends right before you get the sightjacking ability, which is something they obviously aren’t ready to show off yet.

Apparently the demo focuses on Sam Monroe, one of the members of the American film crew and basically introduces people to the new combat and controls. From the demo footage and impressions the game will feature use of the Sixaxis controls to reload your weapon, keep a Shibito from entering a room, and shake off a Shibito thats on top of you. Ofcourse those with a Dual Shock3 controller will be pleased to know that like the first Siren the game supports rumble as you feel the beat of your heart race faster when a Shibito is near. Interesting enough, you also have the option of playing in first person as well (something I don’t recall being able to do in the first game). Stealth ofcourse plays a key factor in the game until you get a good weapon and ofcourse Shibito’s don’t stay down for long so there’s a bunch of different actions (and dramatic kill moves) you can use to get them out of your hair for awhile or possibly for good like pushing them down an elevator shaft.

Overall, the game seems to be shaping up very nicely, and honestly I just can’t wait for a North American release date so I can get my hands on it. Its been years since the last Siren, and I really loved the first game so I’m anxious to play another Siren game and see how the new PS3 Siren will compare to the first game especially with the improved combat, sightjacking and the graphics as the trailer looked very impressive graphics wise (almost as good as Uncharted Drake’s Fortune). Only thing I’m a little worried about is the game being more action oriented, I don’t know about some people but I liked the stealth elements of the first game and the feeling of being helpless and having to hide and sneak past enemies so I hope there will still be some of that in the game as well to keep things tense and creepy.

I must admit though, the announcement of this game came as abit of a shock for me and was pretty unexpected since it just came out of the blue and is already slated for release in two months (nice timing, I wish more games would be announced like this), but its great news nonetheless (and I’m actually glad they didn’t reveal it sooner or else we would’ve had to wait longer). Hopefully if Sony does release it here they may release Siren 2 for the PS2 as well, or perhaps we’ll eventually see a Siren 2 remake for the PS3, which would be pretty cool.

For those interested you can check out the trailer for Siren New Translation right in high quality here on GameTrailers or below on YouTube. You can also view some demo footage on GameTrailers or on YouTube below and visit the official site (though there’s not much on it) right here.

Siren New Translation Trailer

Siren New Translation Demo Footage

Well, its that special day of the year again. Yep, its my Birthday today (Happy Birthday to me!) which means I’ll be turning the big 2 5 today. I must admit its still abit hard to wrap my head around I mean I just still can’t believe I’m turning 25. Honestly, where has the time gone? Seems like yesterday that I turned 20 and here I am now five years later at 25. Wow, time sure does fly by. To think another 25 years from now and I’ll be 50, its hard to believe (makes me feel old when I think about it like that ). Can’t imagine where I’ll be 25 years from now or what my life will be like then (if I live that long hopefully) but here’s hoping for the best. Afterall I have alot to live for and alot to look forward to so hopefully I’ll have another great and exciting 25+ years ahead of me.

Anyway, its early Saturday morning here so the day is just beginning, heh. I’ll be going to bed in a few minutes since I have to get up early and commence celebrating with my friends and family but I just thought I’d post a quick message on my blog about it at least (actually this is the first time I posted about my birthday on my blog here, at least I think it is but don’t quote me on that). I’ll probably be out for most of the day, my friends are treating me to a movie later and a little get together party, and ofcourse my family has a big meal (a KFC dinner meal is what they usually get on special occassions like this) and a bunch of other stuff (including gifts ofcourse) planned so that should be fun. Been a busy week so I’m really glad my Birthday has arrived. Yeah, I may be turning 25 and getting older but I just can’t wait to let loose, relax, and celebrate and party!!

Update: Well, my birthday’s over for another year, but I had a great day ofcourse. Got awhole bunch of nice surprises for my Birthday mostly dvds and games but a few extra gifts as well. From my Mom I got some games like Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core for the PSP, Dark Sector for the PS3, Obscure 2 The Aftermath for the PS2, Silent Hill Origins for the PS2, as well as a beautiful necklace, a really nice glass angel that lights up, a dove and angel snowglobe, and a special 15 page daughters novelty giftbook by Helen Exley filled with really sweet daughter poems and versus that I really liked.

From my Dad I got a cute 16 inch dog statue that looks identical to Misty (golden lab) which I thought was really cool (its pretty big and sits looking up at you like a real dog with a chain on its neck and a leash in its mouth), I also got some dvds from him that I wasn’t expecting, Stephen King’s The Mist (which I watched about a month ago and loved it), and some Japanese horror movies he came across that he thought I’d like (ironically enough these were the same ones I was thinking about getting ordering awhile ago, he says it must have been a coincidence but I think not): Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Retribution, Carved (aka Kuchisake Onna or Slit-Mouthed Woman), and Nightmare Detective.

My sister also got me a few games as she always does, she got me Shadowrun, Perfect Dark Zero, BulletWitch all for the X-Box 360 (these were games I’ve always been interested in checking out but never got around to), Baroque for the PS2 (this was that horror/RPG by Atlus that I posted about awhile back, was supposed to be out in Feb. but was delayed, guess it must’ve came out sometime over the last few weeks though) and Insecticide and Dementium The Ward both for the Nintendo DS.

After supper my friends treated me to a show at the cinema to see a movie I’ve been wanting to check out for awhile, the new Jackie Chan and Jet Li movie, The Forbidden Kingdom which we all really enjoyed. After that we had a little get together party to just relax and have fun. They also gave me the new Nine Inch Nails cd Ghosts I - IV, and surprised me by getting me some anime as well. I don’t know where they got them but they gave me Appleseed Ex Machina which I’ve been really looking forward to for awhile now but couldn’t buy myself because I couldn’t find it around here, and the first volume of some anime I hadn’t heard of before called XXXHolic (looks to be a supernatural type anime so I’ll probably like it) and an anime movie called Origin Spirts of The Past. I listened to the new NIN cd and I must say its really different than I expected, but I’m still impressed and really pleased with it. Usually their cd’s are songs with vocals but this cd is more instrumental and doesn’t have any vocals at all. Still, it really reminds me of Akira Yamaoka’s Silent Hill music, just dark and brooding, catchy but also disturbing and sometimes sad (check out the Amazon page here to preview the songs and you’ll see what I mean).

All in all though, I had a really good day, saw a great movie, got lots of cool gifts and had a great time just hanging and celebrating with family and friends. Might not seem like I did much but I enjoyed it (even though it did go by a little too fast for me), afterall you don’t turn 25 everyday (wow, do I feel old saying that)

Didn’t know this until recently but one of my favorite music groups, Groove Coverage has a new single out called Because of You. Apparently the song was released in Sept.2007 so its not exactly a brand new song but this is the first time I’ve heard it so its new to me at least . The song is actually a cover of the ballad Because of You (The Postman Song) by Stevie B. Now I can’t speak for the original song because I obviously haven’t heard it, but I really like the Groove Coverage version. Been listening to it alot since I saw the music video for it online a few days ago and I love it. As always Groove Coverage comes through with yet another great hit.

The single is actually one of a few new songs they released on their new Definitive Greatest Hits CD and Video set (view here) which was only released a few weeks ago on Mar.25. The set comes with two cds and also a dvd with all their music videos on it which I think is really cool. The first cd has most of their greatest hits songs from the last few years and new ones like Because of You, Living On A Prayer, Nothing Lasts Forever, Angel From Above, November Night and You. The second disc is a remix cd which contains a bunch of new remixed versions of their songs.

This Groove Coverage Definitive Greatest Hits CD actually came out at the perfect time for me because I’ve been thinking of ordering a Groove Coverage cd for awhile now since you can’t get their cds around here or anything. So I just had to buy it online the other day when I saw it for sale. I haven’t gotten it yet, but I can’t wait until it comes in the mail. Unfortunetly I don’t know if the music video dvd will play on my tv and dvd player since its a PAL dvd (since I live in Canada I have a NTSC tv) but my dvd player is region free so maybe it’ll work (fingers crossed). I’m hoping it will cause I’d love to have all their music videos on one dvd, but I guess I won’t find out until it arrives.

Anyway, the music video of their newest song Because of You has been up on YouTube for awhile, but you can check it out below if you like. And for those who haven’t heard of Groove Coverage you can read up on them right here. I’d highly recommend checking out some of their other songs as well if your into dance/trance music.

Groove Coverage - Because of You

Brand new teaser trailer for Frank Miller’s next movie, The Spirit, has made its way online yesterday after premiering at the New York Comic Con this past weekend and it looks pretty cool. The movie won’t be out until next year so this is only a very brief teaser but it looks to have the same CG digital background style technology used in Miller’s previous films Sin City and 300 and will also retain the feel of the comic by copying specific shots from the comic itself, another technique used in Sin City.

Despite the horror sounding title, the film is actually a live action film adaptation of Will Eisner’s popular 1940’s newspaper comic strip about rookie cop Denny Colt who returns from the dead as a masked vigilante known as The Spirit to fight crime in Central City from the shadows. Written and solely directed by Miller himself the film will be a much darker, twisted take on the comic and stars actor Gabriel Macht as the main character with Samuel L. Jackson playing his nemesis The Octopus, a villian who plans to wipe out all of Central City and will kill anyone unlucky enough to see his face. The film also stars actress Sarah Paulson as Dr. Ellen Dolan, The Spirit’s true love and the police commissioners daughter, while actresses Eva Mendez and Scarlet Johansson will both play as femme fatale characters Sand Saraf The Spirit’s once childhood sweetheart who has turned to a life of crime, and Silken Floss, The Octopus’s vixen accomplice.

While most comic based films typically begin with an origin story, The Spirit will not. Instead the film will be open and will start off with The Spirit’s adventures having already begun and will be more contemporary than the ’40s and ’50s era of the strip and will aim for a “timeless feel.” The synopsis for the film is as follows:

“Adapted from the legendary comic strip The Spirit is a classic action adventure romance told by genre-twister Frank Miller (creator of Sin City and 300). It is the story of a former rookie cop who returns mysteriously from the dead as the Spirit (Gabriel Macht), to fight crime in Central City. His arch-enemy, The Octopus (Samuel L Jackson), has a different mission: he’s going to wipe out Spirit’s beloved city as he pursues his own version of immortality. The Spirit tracks this cold-blooded killer from Central City’s rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront, all while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love, or kill our masked crusader.

Surrounding him at every turn are Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson) the whip-smart girl next door; Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson) a punk secretary and frigid vixen; Plaster of Paris (Paz Vega) a murderous French nightclub dancer; Lorelei (Jaime King) a phantom siren; and Morgenstern (Stana Katic) a sexy young cop. Then ofcourse there’s Sand Saref (Eva Mendez) the jewel thief with dangerous curves. She’s the love of his life turned bad. Will he save her or will she kill him? In the vein of Batman Begins and Sin City, The Spirit takes us on a sinister, gut-wrenching ride with a hero who is born, murdered and born again.”

I haven’t heard much about this film up until now, but anything by Miller always captures my interest since I loved Sin City and 300. I actually thought it was a horror movie at first because of the title so I was kinda surprised by the trailer. Nonetheless, the film both sounds and looks awesome so I’m really interested in checking this one out. Afterall, if its as good as Sin City and 300 then it should be a really great flick. I’m really glad Miller is using the digital background tech for this movie as well, its a really cool feature and really adds alot of flare and visual style to his films, one you don’t see much of in other films. Unfortunetly it won’t be out until Jan.2009 so we still have quite awhile to wait. But as long as the film is great then it should be well worth the wait.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch the new teaser below on YouTube. The official site is also open with some goodies thats worth checking out as well, it has some info on the cast and production, posters, images, the aforementioned story synopsis, and even a blog and brief behind the scenes video.

The Spirit Teaser Trailer

Wow, I just have to post these, they look absolutely incredible. These two new Chilean PS3 ads were unveiled recently by Sony as part of a new South American advertising campaign. The Dali-inspired ads were created by advertising agency BBDO Chile and although unfortunetly they probably won’t be shown anywhere other than South America, they are very impressive visually stunning pieces of art that must be seen to be believed.

The two ads show a guy and a girl statue each with a PS3 controller in their hands but also include PS3 symbols hidden all over the place. Can you find them all? Check out the images for yourself below, or even better click on them to view the much bigger and detailed versions.