PERSONA FES Trailer!

Best Games of 2007: HDCGAMER Edition...

#1 BIOSHOCK

Yes, you knew it was coming. But really I stand by my choice. I made this one on Gamespot about a week before the VGAs so I feel more justified than anyone with picking Bioshock than anyone. The reason I picked Bioshock is pretty simple. The game tells an incredible story, has incredible gameplay, incredible graphics, and has bring philosophical elements to the fore of a video game for the first time. These are things not easily done all in the same title. Most titles do one or two of them. But to do them all, that is worthy of true praise.

#2 The Orange Box

This package with Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. Pretty much blows away anything else. The games packed in this box are everything from a FPS to a puzzle game. Even with a few issues at launch with playing online. The game is still the best of the bunch and the best value anyone can get for $60. With downloadable content and even episode 3. There is little doubt that Valve will continue to make great advancements not only in innovation but in turning conventions into a kind of classical perfection.

#3 Halo 3

This title was so incredibly hyped by Microsoft that really there was no chance it wouldn't be a big hit. The game while innovative certainly doesn't support it's megalithic hype. But for it's industry changing Forge that allows the player to change the layout of maps and for it's film capturing feature this game earns a third place nod.

#4 Call of Duty 4

Call of Duty 4 brought Infinity Ward back to the stage of battle and again they dominated. With an incredible graphical feel and a unmistakable cinematic quality; the game is one of the best shooters out this year. The best part of Call of Duty 4 are the hundreds of options in their mulitplayer and the ranking system that seems to be copycat of Halo 3's. While the single player was excellent the never ending enemy barrages and the timed events grew old quickly and really pulled the player out of the game.

#5 Super Mario Galaxy

This is my only Wii title in this list and the only game this year on the system worthy of a spot. This game served to take platforming to it's top level. Mario is a the height of his powers here in Galaxy. There really isn't a better platformer. But unfortunately that's all that can really be said of Galaxy. It's Super Mario 64 on speed. But that isn't exactly a bad thing.

#6 Persona 3

It took us all too long to get to Persona 3. But really this is where it belongs. The game has an accomplished story and an even better and more satisfying combat scheme than many supposedly more advanced RPGs. The game is incredible and should be played by anyone who loved Final Fantasy. The game has the same feel but a more modern feel and a cool manga-like art style that makes everything look cool.

#7 God of War 2

This game having come out early in the year on PS2 seemed to get lost in all the noise of later titles. But the design and execution of God of War 2 make it certainly one of the best games of this year and the sequel can only highlight this fact whenever it arrives. The God of War franchise is the best of Sony's stable and will hopefully retain it's quality throughout it's existence no matter what version of the Sony console it lands on.

#8 Rock Band

The difference between Rock Band and Guitar Hero is simple a microphone and a set of drums. The game allows the player to choose an instrument and play either together in a band or join a A.I. controlled band that has a loose theme but not the kind of true theme that the player controlled bands have. The game is incredible and certainly deserves a high place on the roster for it's incredible amount of downloadable songs and the large amount of replayablity that the game engenders.

#9 Guitar Hero III

The game is certainly the crowning achievement of the series and even with a lackluster number of improvements or changes over previous editions the game is still a high achievement. With it's record sales and probably a partial reason why playing the guitar again seems to be an interest of children and oldsters alike. The game even being difficult is excellent and hopefully will garner a more innovative sequel in the future.

#10 Unreal Tournament 3

This legendary game is probably more full of potential than anything else. The gameplay and overall design are first rate. The lack of sales and seeming interest for the title are head scratching. But in six months this title will most likely be at the height of it's powers and might then take it's place among the greatest games on any system.

The games that were not listed here were either not good enough to be put on it or were beyond the experience of the author. This is not to say that these games are not good, simply that I haven't gotten around to playing them yet. BTW, as not worry anyone, Mass Effect would be #11 due to it's many bugs and boring vehicle sequences.

Discovery Channel's Rise of the VideoGames Episode 3: Back to the History Board..

" LEVEL THREE

• Premiere: Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 8 p.m. ET/PT
  With games like Castle Wolfenstein 3-D and Doom, video games grew from their primitive 2-D roots into richly detailed 3-D worlds. These groundbreaking 3-D games led the industry down new paths, both thrilling and troubling. Designers now had the technology to create games that accurately simulated the real world. For the first time, game designers had to grapple with a difficult question — how long before a game was nearly indistinguishable from reality? For all the controversy surrounding the first-person shooter genre in video games, its popularity was undeniable. And in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the same government that fought to regulate video games quickly designed their own as a recruiting tool for the Army. America's Army was born and an even more sensitive debate arose as to the morality of recruiting young men for real war through the fun of a video game. Were games desensitizing us to the very real pain of violence and war? And more importantly, were video games leading us on a march towards virtual war? Some people interviewed in this episode include Colonel Casey Wardynski (director and project originator of America's Army) and Asi Burak (producer of Peacemaker — a computer game simulation of the Israeli-Arab conflict)"Discoverychannel...
  

Back to history, huh? I suppose that's the only place that the series could go. Problem is that there was never a controversy over the army recruiting people using video games. Taking a laser sight on to the importance of using video games to simulate military activities. Much of the REAL informaiton about technological advancement is lost. Also, trying to be hip and interesting they concentrate wholly and completely on FPS. Which isn't given credit to Mario which really was the revolution of the 3D experience and really Doom and Castle Wolfenstein were secondary. Oh BTW. everything Nazi is banned in Germany folks, not just video games.

Some of the stuff that they talk about; like the early 90s being a big boom for video games seems really insane. I was in high school during that time and I never played Doom. But I did play plenty of video games. I really didn't see the big deal over Doom. The spark of the video game controversy was Mortal Kombat which was FAR MORE POPULAR than Doom. The forming of the ESRB and the reasons for it were not well enough explained.

How old is Heather Chaplin? She talks like she's 60. All these references to kids and how they do this or that and what they think or don't. She was probably 20 when this was going on; maybe even younger she was one of these, "kids."

It's really funny how everyone in the games industry can point to these 2-3 games that are really incredibly violent or crazy. Can the same be said for the movie industry? Can somebody in the movie industry name 2-3 movies that are the worst their industry has ever created? Or are there just too many to mention? Which industry is worse?

Anyone who has fought in actual combat has really come out to say that the reality of battle is not represented in ANY video game. It's a good teaching tool, but certainly not teaching people how to kill. Killing people and their being a chance you could get killed is much different than any game or movie. The brain can tell the difference and there IS a BIG difference. To take any time to review the history of flight simulators is just TERRIBLY boring and makes REALLY bad television.

Of course, no video game show on television is complete without America's Army. The game that only people in the Army or people who want to be in the Army play. It's on PC only and has no future on the console. The participation is great in the game but how many of those people had no interest in joining the Army before playing the game? ZERO! I played America's Army back in the day, because it was free. I'm sorry, but what REAL GAMER plays the game?

It's so simple. If every console had a mandatory way of making sure that the game was being played by the person who the games is rated for, then there would be no more talk about violence in video games. How about a credit card confirmation? How about parents USING parental controls! When little Johnny watches the porn that his father leaves lying around it's the father gets blamed not the porn industry. Same should be true of video games. Doesn't that seem simple.

To use simulators as some kind of example that video games and war go hand in hand is ridiculous. It's like comparing toy guns to real ones. There is a HUGE difference between the two.

Then they show WW2 games as the private sector making war games. Then they start criticizing Tom Clancy games and their views of terrorism. Maybe they will start talking smack about 24? I guess these people can't tell what is fiction and what is reality. Which is really what the government is worried about with games to begin with. Which makes everything REALLY funny in a sad sort of way.

The amount of lightning rod information is SO LIMITED because there is so little of it. So the same topics come up over and over again. Which is kind of like trying to make statements about a country based on one book that a citizen of that country created. Then trying to take every book that is like that book from every other country and then trying to make statements about the world based on that.

There are plenty of people who have said that since WWI America has become a very militarized country and continues to. Video Games are a symptom of this not a cause of it. Think about that for a while. After all, the US is not the only country that makes video games. Not by a long shot.....

At the end of the show, they start talking about all the "Good" uses for video games. This is SO STUPID! It is like comparing a training video to a movie. Do these people REALLY believe that video games represent reality? Because if they see plumbers jumping around on mushrooms and Space Marines landing in Africa. I really want to know what drugs they have been on.

There is a marked difference between a game and a simulator. In a game you have points, a goal, and a trial and error way of getting there. There is usually a story and it usually involves some kind of action or drama. But a simulator is a direct representation of reality. There is NO STORY and usually no drama. That's why simulators are usually boring and usually used for a particular purpose. If these folks think Halo is a war simulator you are too naive to even speak to.

Finally, I want to top this off with the fact that all of these questions have been asked and answered in so many better ways in SO many other places; that to bring up this is just fear mongering and propagandizing. I really get angry when I see this kind of thing because it is SO pathetic and SO unnecessary. If you want to do video game history, try doing it without the crap.

Jaffe Shows off Twisted Metal Head-On for the PS2?

Today. Playstation Blog had the exclusive story on David Jaffe and the first project from Eat Sleep Play. This game is for the PS2... Yes, you heard right. It's for the PS2! Seems Jaffe and crew can't get over their old console home. I hope one of these design geniuses will head over to a modern console. Yes, there certainly are plenty of PS2s out there; But considering some of the new Playstation 3s won't have backwards compatibility, there probably won't be as many customers out there as they might hope by the time this game releases.

Hopefully, Jaffe's next project will be for the PS3....

Just to prove how poor everyone will be by January! NPD numbers!

"Top 10 best-selling games of October 2007, according to NPD Group

Halo 3 (regular, collector's, and legendary versions)--Xbox 360--434,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar)--Xbox 360--383,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar)--Wii--286,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar)--PS2--271,000
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass--DS--263,000
Wii Play with Wii Remote--Wii--240,000
The Orange Box--Xbox 360--238,000
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock--PS2--232,000
FIFA Soccer 08--PS2--130,000
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day--DS--117,000

October 2007 hardware sales, according to NPD Group

Wii--519,000
Nintendo DS--458,000
Xbox 360--366,000
PSP--286,000
PS2--184,000
PS3--121,000"Gamespot...

This was a crazy month with 1.1 Billion in sales! So is there any money left out there for the rest of the year. I'm sure, but by the time this is all over I don't think there will be many pennies in our coffers.

Flyleaf Companion Pack Trailer

Marilyn Manson Companion Pack Trailer

Is This the Last Guitar Hero?

As great as the new Guitar Hero is; it is far from perfect, according to critics. The upcoming Rock Band will offer a ton of features besides just instruments beyond the guitar. Activision has been having quite a run,

" The latest from the NPD group shows that sales of Activision's titles, led by the Guitar Hero series, has hit almost $400 million. EA has lost the top spot for the first time in over a decade with sales of $365.7 million."Destructiod

This is all pre-Rock Band and Skate came out to good sales and good critical review but it has had a very short time to build steam. Most games of this type including Tony Hawk, are usually "long game" titles that make more money as time goes on. Even more when they reach the discounted price point. When RedOctane was rocking the Guitar Hero, the price point never went down; which is probably why Activision bought them in the first place.

Guitar Hero 3 was all ready pretty far along when the deal went down between RedOctane and Activision. It is certainly understandable that there aren't too many improvements or advancements. However, with Rock Band coming out in about a month with some of the advancements that would have benefited Guitar Hero 3. There are certainly more songs on the way for Guitar Hero 3 but there are even more songs on the way for Rock Band. Even that won't help in the long term.

Guitar Hero 3 was Activision's coming out party, and it rocks. But if there aren't some big changes in the future this might be the swan song for the series. At one point if Harmonix and Redoctane were still together they would have a monopoly. Now that Harmonix is working for EA, and coming out in a month. With features that everyone was thinking about since Guitar Hero 2. It is hard to believe that Activision and Redoctane are going to be able to recover from this very easily.

Trenton wants people to buy PS3 games! All 62 of them!

"Tretton told the paper that taking support for PS2 games out of the new system isn't dramatically cutting manufacturing costs. However, by omitting the option of playing PS2 games, Sony hopes that new customers will instead spend their money on more PS3 games. He added that Sony's own research suggests that customers won't miss the feature because they probably already own a PS2."Gamespot...

This is insane. The system that has the fewest games out there wants to make that even more apparent by cutting off the the backwards compatibility that is probably helping their PS2 game sales. I have purchased just as many PS2 games and PS3 games. Difference is I still have the PS2 games and I only kept Resistance for the PS3. All customers out there make sure and purchase a 60+ GB PS3 before they are gone. The 40 GB PS3 is obviously a big rip off.

NPD Sales for September 2007, Sony's PS3 not doing too well!

"Top 10 best-selling games of September 2007, according to NPD Group

Halo 3 (all versions)--Xbox 360--3.3 million
Wii Play with Wii Remote--Wii--282,000
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass--DS--224,000
Madden NFL 08--PS2--205,000
Skate--Xbox 360--175,000
Madden NFL 08--Xbox 360--173,000
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption--Wii--167,000
BioShock--Xbox 360--150,000
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day--DS--141,000
Heavenly Sword--PS3--139,000

September 2007 hardware sales, according to NPD Group

Xbox 360--528,000
Wii--501,000
DS--496,000
PSP--285,000
PS2--215,000
PS3--119,000"Gamespot...

Looks like Halo 3 was good for hardware sales after all. It seems that all the analysts predictions about the PS3 sales skyrocketing aren't panning out. Also, considering the price cut for the PS3 won't show until November's NPD. Analysts say that the larger the install base of the XBOX 360 and PS3 will positively impact the whole industry as opposed to the Wii install base only favoring Nintendo. Sony's response to the lagging sales is basically that their share of the market is 619,000 compared with Xbox's 528,000 and Nintendo's 997,000 so they are still in second place. This is kind of sidestepping the question of Sony's problems with the PS3. But admitting that they have a problem is just not something that Sony is ever willing to do.

Okami on the Wii, Confirmed!

"Okami prowls on Wii

Capcom enlists the help of Ready at Dawn to bring Clover Studios swan song to Nintendo's console next spring.

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot

Posted Oct 19, 2007 2:01 am PT

Just prior to its dismantling, Clover Studios finished a pair of PlayStation 2 games that stood out from the pack: God Hand, a fighting game with an over-the-top style to match its daunting difficulty, and Okami, a critically acclaimed adventure game that added a unique "celestial brush" gameplay mechanic to a framework reminiscent of the Zelda series. Today, a full year after Capcom first announced that it would be dissolving Clover, word has arrived that the publisher is porting Okami to the Wii.

With Clover gone, Capcom has turned to another highly regarded developer to bring the game to the Wii. The Wii port of Okami will be developed by Ready at Dawn, the studio behind the highly regarded Daxter on the PlayStation Portable and the highly anticipated God of War: Chains of Olympus, which is also for the PSP.

As would be expected, the game's controls will be revamped to make use of the motion-sensing Wii Remote. For example, players will use the controller as if it were main character Amaterasu's celestial brush, painting symbols to invoke powers that help solve the game's puzzles. Okami is expected to see release on the Wii in spring 2008."Gamespot...

I loved Okami on the PS2. I even still own a copy of this classic. But on the Wii? I know the controls might make the paintbrush more exciting but even with all those Wiis out there, it seems impossible for it to sell as well or better than the PS2 version especially by Spring of 2008. Super Smash Bros Brawl will be out by then right?

Rock Band's Solo delayed to 2008!

Listen, I love the idea of Rock Band. Problem is that most of the appeal is to play one instrument; not all of them. Also, with a price tag of $170 for the whole package it doesn't necessarily scream casual gamer. The single instrument packages are being billed at $80 but no mention of whether they include the game or not. These single instrument bundles are also being billed to come out in February. This whole thing is pretty crazy considering that Guitar Hero 3 is gaining popularity and with only having to either buy a single $80 package or simply have the guitar from Guitar Hero 2.
The clash between the two franchises are hardly rivals if one ostensibly comes out in February and the other comes out in a week. Rock Band will probably win the long game here, but the fact that it will probably die a horrible death in it's first few weeks shouldn't be a signal for the developers and publisher to give up on it.
The developers have all ready insisted that this bundle is due to manufacturing concerns over coming out with separate bundles for separate instruments and the costs associated with them. They are worried about manufacturer shortfalls. Well, they won't have any shortfalls if they sell only a small portion of what they would have normally if they would have split these bundles into separate instrument bundles. I, for one, am waiting until they come out with the separate bundles, I guess I'll have to wait til then to get the band together... Good Night Cleveland!!!

PSN Update NA edition!

• Everyday Shooter full game ($9.99)
• Ratchet and Clank demo (free)
• Conan demo (free)
• NHL 2K8 demo (free)
• Uncharted behind the scenes video (free)
• Folklore trailer (free)
  
• Fallout 3 trailer (free)
• Ratchet and Clank wallpaper (free)
• Everyday Shooter wallpaper (free)
• The Assassination of Jesse James movie trailer (free)
• Spiderwick Chronicles movie trailer (free)
• Walk Hard movie trailer (free)

Now that's what I call an update! I think Sony is finally figuring out that people want to download lots of content rather than just using their internet connection to play Resistance and Warhawk. Now if they could just get these PSN updates to be a little more regular. You know, like everyday or every other day. What is the big deal about Thrusday night anyway?

We don't like Wii better, it's just Cheap!

"Capcom managing corporate officer Katsuhiko Ichii explains why they jumped ship:

Due to high development cost of titles for PS3, we have decided to switch the platform to which we release our Monster Hunter 3 title."Kotaku

OK, someone in PR at Capcom is probably losing sleep over this right now. If this is the case why didn't they just release it for the PS2 or the PSP? After all, those consoles have to be even CHEAPER to develop games on. I just can't believe he said that...

A Wii Little game and All the Trouble it Caused! Controversy over the Wii and Manhunt 2

All right I haven't talked about this at all. I'm not a big fan of the Wii. I think it is watering down the game industry with a lot of garbage and is one step up from one of those Tiger Electronics plug into the TV systems.
But this is getting a little ridiculous. Here are some of the articles that prompted my statements about this, USATODAY and N'Gai Croal on CNN.
I've not seen the game or played it. But I do know a lot about Manhunt #1. The game was garbage. It was also one of the worst selling games on the PS2 and the XBOX when it came out. Why Rockstar is making this game, is unimaginable.
The new game on the Wii allows the player to use the Wiimote and Nunchuck to make a strangulation motion and the much talked about stabbing motion with the Wiimote. The system that has been glorified as the system for seniors, alpha moms, and little kids; will probably spit this across the room if you try and put it in. Just kidding...
The irony here is more than a little hysterical. As a gamer, this type of sensationalism is just part of the world. After all, women with big boobs and guys that look like they just walked off the cover of the latest issue of Muscle & Fitness are the norm. People getting shot 5 times before they die are also the norm. So this type of thing isn't really a big deal. But for the mass media who has embraced the Wii like a baby; are all but beside themselves with disgust over this.
The infantilization of the game industry has been lead by the Wii. Nintendo wants everyone to ignore photo-realism and reality of any kind and just concentrate on minigames and games that could have come out for the Gamecube. Even with their big sales figures, however, they have a game like this that proves once and for all that games are primarily for adults. An "M rated" game is for an individual that is generally not thought of as a child. Normally the individual has seen at least one R rated movie and perhaps has even had sex. Which basically means that nothing that occurs in ANY video game is going to overly shock them or turn them into a lunatic.
While half of the industry is trying to move more towards a film standard. Nintendo wants the industry to go back to the days when video games were synonymous with the toy industry. Perhaps this is because that was the last time that Nintendo was the industry leader. Their broader audience that they so aggressively court is that of the toy industry and the mainstream movie industry. But what will they say about Manhunt 2? How will they explain it? They won't. you won't see those commercials with the two happy Japanese men driving around wanting to play Wii; and they pop in Manhunt 2 for some quick killing and chilling. No, Nintendo will bury this game like Atari buried their copies of E.T. back in the 80s.
Rockstar will certainly advertise it, probably with the PS2 being the lead SKU. Because that is the way Rockstar does things. It's not enough that they made this title and put it on Wii. No, they want even more people talking about it than they all ready have. It is very appropriate that Rockstar is having this game come out on Halloween. It is like saying to the mainstream media, the industry, and everyone who thinks that the rating system doesn't work,

"Trick or Treat!"

More Sony News than you can shake a SIXAXIS AT!

It was just announced that Sony is coming out with a 40 GB PS3 SKU for Europe on October 10th and the US on Nov. 2(the US date is only rumored). The
40GB PS3 Story comes from PS3Fanboy. This comes after the 80GB SKU with Motorstorm was released back in August which only complicated the 60GB launch model. There was even a 20GB model back when the system launched. The main difference between all of these models is obviously the hard drive size but features or lack there of are also a part of this deal. With the newest SKU, Sony is dropping support for backwards compatibility. This feature was sp essential to the system's success that many game journalists said before the system was confirmed that the lack of backwards compatibility would be a ridiculous move and the rumor of such had to be a complete fabrication. But in a story from Slashdot among others on October 5th confirmed the fact that the 40GB PS3 would have no backwards compatibility. this fact was explained by the lack of the semi conductors necessary to achieve the PS2 backwards compatibility.
When asked about the prices and the reaction of the early adopters Ray Mcguire told PS3Fanboy,

"As products evolve the offerings change because they have to adapt to the needs of the consumers but I don't think it's been particularly confusing in six months to go from stand alone, to a bundled proposition into a low price entry level model ... We also have to remember that consumers don't search around the world for different configurations. We are a global company but we have to act locally as well."G.I. Biz....

The real answer is, if we knew that charging that much for the system would be such a financial disaster we wouldn't have done it in the first place. But the systems are so different and so divergent that it seems like an identity crisis and a financial disaster rather than an evolving product line. They are certainly following the disastrous XBOX 360 model where they come out with a new system every couple of months. At least they are mostly making additions and no gross subtractions like the PS3 is doing.
Sony just posted that they need advertising folks working for them to keep Home free. This was expected considering it's a free online service. What is more interesting is the fact that the service hasn't launched yet and this content ravenous service better not be populated solely by advertising rather than real content about and for games.
With the Sony's focus on advertising and hardware it appears that Sony is in good shape with everything except where they really need help, SOFTWARE!

Playstation the Official Magazine to Begin publication in November

It's hard to believe that Official Playstation Magazine has been dead and gone from us a whole year. It used to be published by Ziff Davis and they axed the magazine due to the lagging sales. Now Future and Sony are getting together to relaunch Playstation: the Official Magazine. This magazine will strangely enough be launching in November. How ironic... Anyway, the worst part of this is that the current PSM publication can barely fill a magazine with the lack games that Sony has been not coming out with. I'm not sure why this warrants yet another magazine.
This is especially strange because in Europe, where the PS3 is more popular; just a few months ago it was reported that these Sony only publications are bleeding money, Therefore it is truly a strange thing to see Sony partnering with Future(the guys bleeding money in Europe), to come out with an American magazine.
Good luck, hopefully the writing will be better than that found in the Official XBOX Magazine. Where is the Official Nintendo magazine? They could really use one.

PS3's Dual Shock 3 not coming in US/Europe til 2008, Japan in November 2007!

This one of those stories that makes me wonder about Sony's overall intelligence. The market for the PS3 in Japan isn't much better than the market for the XBOX 360. But in both Europe and the US Sony is doing pretty well. Europe especially... So how is our healthy gaming markets status repaid? In ambivalence by Sony. Sony says that the current production schedule doesn't allow for an earlier release but considering the Japanese, North American, and European controllers are the same hardware it is hard to understand how it could be only releasing in one market.

In theory anxious players could import Japanese versions of the controllers. That leads to the real reason perhaps, for the delay in shipping. The games that have all ready been released that are supposed to have rumble support will not support it due to the American patches won't be out. Which seems to point to this being a software issue rather than a production issue.

Last but not least I would like to say that this feature should have been included from the beginning and the fact that the motion controls and sheer discomfort of PS3's weightless controller are probably the reactionaries for the return of rumble rather than Sony realizing in a midnight revelation that people want rumble in their games. Which people do, as do developers. Sony has pointed to the lawsuit that was ongoing during the PS3's development as the reason why they didn't have rumble but this is more than a year after that lawsuit was settled and it will be more than a year from the American release that people outside of Japan will be able to feel the rumble again; even though the rumble technology is the same as that used in PS2's dual shock controller.

Sony really needs to get clear of all of these growing pains. It's hard to understand how a company that was the leader in the last generation could be so disorganized and make so many mistakes in the beginning of this generation.

Comments on sources come from 1UP News....

My Undead Heart is about to burst: Resident Evil Extinction leads weekend box office!

"Resident Evil: Extinction Leads Box Office

Sony estimates a $24 million gross for the weekend.
By Andrew Hayward, 09/24/2007

Resident Evil: Extinction, the third film in the game-based film trilogy, opened atop the North American box office this weekend with $24 million across 2,828 theaters, according to studio estimates released yesterday. As reported on Friday, analysts projected a $20-21 million opening weekend for the film, which was budgeted at about $45 million.

Should the estimates hold true, Extinction will have earned just slightly more in its opening weekend than its immediate predecessor, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which also opened at #1 with $23 million in 2004. According to Box Office Mojo, Extinction sold fewer tickets than Apocalypse, though the rising costs of film tickets made up the difference (and then some). Apocalypse lost steam after its opening weekend, drawing $51 million in total over its domestic theatrical run. We'll be keeping tabs on Extinction to see if it has more staying power than its predecessors.

Dane Cook vehicle Good Luck Chuck met projections with an estimated $14 million over the weekend, landing squarely in the second slot (ahead of last week's top flick, The Brave One, which brought in an additional $7.4 million). Actual numbers are expected to be available later this afternoon -- we'll update if the final numbers diverge significantly from the estimates."1UP....

I also dropped my money on this movie and I have to say that it is the weakest of the trilogy but certainly not a bad movie. I love these movies but I have some problems with this one.

First and foremost in Resident Evil Apocalypse Alice had these incredible mind blowing mental powers. But in this movie she hardly uses them even when Umbrella all ready knows where she is.

Second, the ending was horrible and could easily lead to another movie and this was supposed to be the last one. I'm not even sure I want to see a fourth movie; they completely accelerated a story line that could have been told over at least 6 movies but they decided to make this a trilogy and do a horrible job of telling what happened between 2 and 3. Besides that, never fleshing out Alice's character even though she is basically the main character of the trilogy.

Third, this movie was FAR TOO SHORT! An hour and a half is just not enough for a movie anymore. Most movies with descent stories are at least 2 hours now a days and they could have used this time to prevent the movie from looking like a sequel could be forthcoming.

I would just like to say that as much as I really love Mila and the whole cast of these movies, especially Valentine(Sienna Guillory). But what would have been wrong with doing the actual Resident Evil video game story? I mean it would have taken some editing and probably some modernizing but it could have been a landmark series for movies based on video games.

As much as I'd love to see another Resident Evil movie, I think it probably would be best not to have one. Because after Extinction there really isn't anything left...

Persona 3 review now up on HDCGAMER.com

Persona 3 Review is now up on www.hdcgamer.com go over and check it out!