DS, Sickness and Love.

So I just got myself a DS cartridge thing (DSTWO) that allows me to play any DS game, GBA game, or even Snes game I desire on my DS.
*Cough* Completely legal.
So far it's going great and I love the ability to jump between say Mario Kart and then Space Invaders Extreme. All in all I think it is damn awesome.

So for the past few days I've had the flu something shocking...My body shakes, it's hot all over (Bow Chicka Bow Wow) headaches are a bitch and well it's just plain not nice. I'm taking all sorts of herbal remidies...Wait no, that stuff is bullshit....What I meant to say was that I'm taking prescription drugs and this bitch just won't leave me.

On the plus side, I'm back at University! Woo! And Orientation Week was a blast (Though lots of it is shrouded in alcohol caused mystery). So with my new (very open) schedual I think I can get back into the posting of frequently on here.
Also, as Scoot mentioned, farewell MCG, you will be missed.

My name is Mikey, and the condom factory owe me money.

Farewell MGC

mygamercard.net is a site that a lot of xbox users have used, but most probably never saw how much effort went into it. MCG was the first and one of the most popular site that allowed you to create your own gamercard to display your xbox live information and achievements wherever you wanted, plus they put together achievement based leaderboards for the whole world for those competitive gamers. Sadly site owner, Morgon, has chosen to close up shop as support from Microsoft has waned and bandwidth costs (coming out of his own pocket) increased with 13 million daily gamercard requests. Apart from just being a gamercard service, MGC was home to some of the most helpful and friendly forums on the web. As the site shuts down, all of the people using gamercards from there will find them replaced with a farewell image, which you can see 3 times in our contact info on the right, because i intend to leave them there as long as possible as a sort of tribute to the site. You can head over to http://www.mygamercard.net/ to read Morgon's full statement about the closure and find a detailed timeline explaining how MGC came from being a proof of concept all the way back in 2005 to the time when Microsoft stopped caring. So from myself and hopefully all the other gamers who used your service, thank you MGC and farewell.

Destiny

I had never planned to post on this topic, but things continue to escalate and the air is full of overblown opinions on both sides, so here we go... Kotaku vs Bungie. Kotaku recently posted an article claiming they had been in contact with an unnamed source who had been, along with over 30 others, fired from Bungie. The report claims a large number of contractors from various departments had been released due to project sensitivity and budgetary restraints, although apparently Bungie told their contractors it was performance related. Bungie responded to this with their own message stating that there had been no layoffs or group firings of any kind. Not to let things end there though, Kotaku has now turned up a second "100% verified" source who confirms a history of poor treatment to contractors at Bungie, and they point out that Bungie's response never addressed their details about Destiny, that it would be an MMO with FPS elements.

OK, so that's the story so far... Here's how i see it. The original Kotaku post reveals one line of possibly leaked information about the new game, while the rest of the article is a story about Bungie mistreating and firing contractors. Bungie's response covers the story of the contractors and ensures that Bungie are dedicated to their staff. Kotaku turn up a second source who can confirm Bungie mistreats contractors, but DOES NOT say anything about the recent firings and/or leaked info. Kotaku's latest story also latches onto the point that Bungie's response didn't address their leaked info at all, but why would they? If i posted right here that the new Bungie game is going to be a racing game featuring characters from Call of Duty and World of Warcraft going head to head, i wouldn't expect Bungie to respond to the claim at all. Kotaku's story seems more focused on the contractors, so it's in Bungie's best interest to respond to that and preserve their reputation, but they have no need to comment on speculation as to what their new game is.

In closing, until Kotaku can provide something more than unnamed sources complaining about work conditions, i'm calling this story 110% bullshit.

[Original Kotaku post HERE]
[Second Kotaku post HERE]

So who wants to see me on Youtube?

Well the bad news is...I am on Youtube...The good news is I hate you so you can't see it.

I just wanted to post something.

LOVE YOU!

The Darkness Returns

The Darkness came out a long time ago and while it wasn't one of the most well received games, i actually rather enjoyed it, and i know a lot of other people who did too. Well, luckily for me (and any one else who liked it) The Darkness 2 has now officially been announced and it will be coming our way before the year is through. The Darkness 2 will see the return of Jackie Estacado, who is now the don of the Franchetti family. After an assassination attempt, the Franchetti's are thrown into an all out mob war, which isn't helped by The Darkness deciding it wants out of the symbiotic relationship it shares with Jackie. Digital Extremes are taking over development, replacing Starbreeze, who done a fantastic job on the first game. The Darkness 2 will also be taking on a new look as the style changes to a more hand drawn look to closer match that of the comic series the game is based on. Keep an eye out for The Darkness 2, hitting shelves at the end of the year.

Stealth and Acrobatics Making A Comeback

One of the things that is pretty commonplace on the PS3 now is releasing compilation discs with touched up versions of PS2 games. Well it seems that trend may no longer be Sony-exclusive as ratings from ESRB suggest that the latest collections will be coming to Xbox too. Released a short time ago was the Prince of Persia HD collection which included the whole Sands of Time trilogy, and coming soon is the Splinter Cell HD Collection, which includes the original Splinter Cell, as well as Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory. There is still no official confirmation of this, but if it does turn out to be true, it'll be interesting to see if they go the PS3 route, releasing the bundles in disc form, or release each title separately through the Xbox Live Arcade.

Combat Never Changes

Before i state the first line of this actual post, i want to say that at the time of posting, this is nothing more than speculation and alleged report from "anonymous sources"... right, so that's said. Halo: Combat Evolved HD is said to be hitting shelves in November. Joystiq have quoted anonymous sources, saying that the remake of the ever popular first installment of the Halo series is being worked on by Saber Interactive (creators of Timeshift) and that they intend to have it released on November 15th (to coincide with the originals 10th anniversary). Supposedly the update won't just be a touch up in terms of graphics though, as the game is now said to be in full 1080p, 3D compatible and running on a completely new engine, DIFFERENT to the Reach engine. Multiplayer is still under construction, with the possibility of online co-op (the original had 2 player split screen co-op). Personally, i'm calling bullshit on this for now, as i find it hard to believe Microsoft would be having another studio put their name on a title that's sure to sell millions of units, but the rumours of a Halo remake have been persistent for quite some time now, so you never know.