Here is the list this week. I’m probably not getting another Blu-ray until Batman is on Blu-ray. Or unless Square wants to surprise me with Final Fantasy Advent Children Complete on Blu

* Be Kind Rewind
* Bears (IMAX)
* Fool’s Gold
* Men in Black
* So I Married an Axe Murderer
* Wolves (IMAX)

Blu-ray.com

I got MGS4 for Father’s Day yesterday. Quite a nice gift, I have to say. The game’s been getting great reviews, plus Tosh and others here give it the thumbs up. What other endorsements do I really need?

I didn’t get a chance to play the game beyond going into a training mission and figuring out the controls. But I did install the game, install MGO Online, and get both my Konami ID and GAMER ID (for online play).

What the? Konami ID and Gamer ID? Why the heck do I need those? Beats me. Something about being able to buy stuff, which I don’t plan to do anyway. Grrrrrr. (I’ll have to PAY for additional character slots playing online? That’s crazy.) But man is it a pain in the butt. The two ID’s can’t be the same. But they have to contain numbers, letters, a period, and an underscore (or somesuch stupidity). The password for the first can contain letters, the password for the second must only be numbers. And they’re of different lengths.

The whole reason for having to get these stupid ID’s is beyond me. But if they’re gonna make me do this, they could at least make the process easier. And just one ID, not two. Crazy. If I were a reviewer, I’d dock half a point just for this idiocy.

Wow, where to start, and not give any spoilers. Even from booting up the game you’re excited to play it. The title screen is just beautiful to look at. You are truly immersed into the world right from the start. There is so much going on around you. Graphics in MGS4 are a sight to behold, I’m only viewing it in 720p, but it’s still amazing to look at. The cut scenes are actually interactive. I won’t say how, but it’s fun. Everything is so fluid and a joy to watch. The Octocam is fun to use as well. I’m not that far yet, just barely started Act 2. Even though I’m not that far there was still MGS4 style comedy, which I love.

Like Gary said in the Shoutbox, you can set up your bluetooth headset for the codec. It’s so cool to hear Otacon in your ear giving you game tips.

I can see myself playing through this game several times easily. So far this generation I haven’t played any single player game after I beat it. I just don’t have any desire to. But with MGS4, everything is so dynamic. Since I was part of the MGO Beta I only played MGO (Metal Gear Online) for a few minutes. But it seems more polished.

Even if you are not a die hard Metal Gear fan, give this game a shot. Try it on easy if you have to.

IGN, my favorite (although fallable) pro review source, gave MGS4 a perfect 10!

They haven’t given out a perfect 10 in a full 10 years of reviewing all major games, and this is the second 10 they’ve given out in the past two months (the other being the completely worthy GTA4). My expectations have shot through the roof for this title.

Here’s a brief quote of their gushing praise:

Is it possible to give a game an 11? If so, this would be the game that would merit that score. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a title that exceeds all of the hype that was attached to the title. Regardless of whether you’ve seen every trailer and screenshot, read every preview and heard every interview, you won’t get a full sense of how phenomenal this title is unless you sit down and experience it for yourself.

It’s easy to throw around such words, so I will really have to see for myself. My pre-order is ready to be picked up and I can’t wait. If you’ve tried it, please share any spoiler-free impressions.

Nintendo hardware sales dominate the U.S. PSP hardware sales dominate Japan.

How big a boost will MGS4 give PS3 for June?

LEGO Batman: A Trio of Troublemakers IGN checks out a triplet of characters from the LEGO Batman game. Sometimes I wonder if this whole LEGO gaming is being brought too far. Other times, I figure why not?

Microsoft announced three big new RPG developments today:

• Star Ocean 4 (Developed by tri-Ace + Square Enix, Published By Square-Enix), is announced for 360 in 2009. Square Enix evade mention of PS3. I suspect this means a timed 360 exclusive, and the devs are contractually not allowed to mention PS3 info, although this isn’t confirmed.
• The Last Remnant (Developed/Published by Square Enix), a PS3/360 title, is now announced to hit 360 first. The PS3 version is still confirmed. We don’t know how long the timed exclusive window will be.
• Tales of Vesperia (Developed/Published by Namco), is announced for 360 only. Namco recently listed this as coming for the PS3, and retracted that as a “mistake”. Again, it sounds like a 360 timed exclusive, where they are contractually not allowed to mention the PS3 version

Microsoft also reiterated that Inifinite Undiscovery and Fable 2 are still permanent 360 exclusives, but we’ve known about those for a while.

On the PS3 side, we still know about White Knight Stories + FFXIII which are the giant PS3 exclusive RPGs for 2009. We also have Disgaea 3 and Valkyrie Chronicles coming (already out in Japan). We finally get Eternal Sonata (already out on 360) later this year.

In terms of upcoming long-term exclusives, PS3 probably still has the edge: WKS + FFXIII are generally much bigger titles than Fable and Infinite Undiscovery. And these new Microsoft announcements are all probably timed exclusives, rather than long-term or permanent exclusive arrangements. However, Microsoft is definitely gaining a lot of ground on this front.

Clearly, these Japanese RPGs are valuable strategic points for Microsoft’s bigger-picture objectives, and their business teams are aggressively pursuing deals around these key properties. I suspect Microsoft has more cash than Sony that they are willing to use in this kind of deal making.

Of course, there may be more cards left to be played. E3 is just around the corner and there’s a good chance we will see unheard of 2008 projects unveiled then. We’ve mentioned this before, but so far the PS3 hasn’t had a major exclusive RPG release in the west. Of course, there are non-exclusive titles, like the upcoming Fallout 3, but in general, most PS3 and RPG fans are eager to see this situation improve.

The Gamer’s Temple reviews Bourne Conspiracy The Bourne movies are among my favourites, but I didn’t think much of the demo with the quick time events. Here’s a review for you all to spy on.

Four Season Garden Screenshots As strange as this sounds, I kind of want this. It would be a instant buy if I could have it as a animated xmb background : )

It’s the week of MGS4. So the poll is simple. Are you buying it? Vote in the sidebar as always.

Previous poll results:

Has Rockstar going too far?

* They could have left some things out, it would still be a good game.: 17% (47)
* No, I like the controversial stuff. It’s just a game.: 69% (193)
* I don’t play the game because of this stuff.: 14% (39)

Total Votes : 279