Metal Gear this and Metal Gear that, I know, that's all I talk about; but this folks, this may just be the biggest news yet! The Metal Gear Solid 4 Gunmetal Limited Edition PS3 bundle, has just been announced for a U.S. release!

The contents of the bundle have yet to be announced, but going off of the Japanese offering, it would include a Limited Edition Gunmetal 40gb PS3, gunmetal DualShock 3, and a Limited Edition of Metal Gear Solid 4. Now despite the PS3 being a 40gb model, I can't think of a more badass bundle! It would've been more helpful if I knew this was coming out here before I reserved my Limited Edition copy on Monday; still with me on the lookout for a PS3, this is definitely the package I'm aiming for; hopefully it'll be the same price as the 80gb Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle which should run for $500(ouch!). So if my dreams do come true, and I manage to bring one of these home one day, be on the lookout for some pictures of me making love to it!

Quite a week, quite a week indeed. Namely for Metal Gear Solid news, the previews are starting to roll out, and all that good stuff, so we'll get to how much it's killing me in a little bit. So hmm this week we had a Army of Two demo up on LIVE, not much to say there except, it's not quite what I was expecting, or rather wanted. The co-op elements feel quite tacked on and forced, and only in key points like "Hey lift your partner up!" or "Hey rip off a car door and use it as a shield!" So they don't really add anything to the game-play at all, the designers should have been thinking of a way to make actually make co-op into the game, and actually give you an advantage to using it, as opposed to going solo, instead of just saying "The guy who has the bigger gun and shoots a lot makes the other guy invisible, so he can sneak around and kill people." Yeah, I wasn't at all impressed with the game, I'm glad I didn't purchase it.

On much less depressing news, Metal Gear Solid 4 had quite a week! Wouldn't you say so? Of course you would, so we got some new gameplay in the form of an April Fools joke, which actually didn't turn out to be funny at all, but hey, A+ for effort on their part, I'm sure everyone appreciates the kind gesture. But with all the news this week I'd say that was the least exciting of them all. OK so about a month ago I guess, 16 journalists all got invited to a special mountain resort out in Japan, where they all got the esteemed privilege to stay in a hotel owned by Konami(where nobody stays) to play Metal Gear Solid 4, from start to finish for three days, all to give Kojima Productions feedback and assistance on balancing the game. If there was ever a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I could experience, that would be it, Jesus that sounds amazing. Ahem anyways yeah my Metal Gear fandom has been peaked, the wait is excruciating, it's overwhelming, all day now I just think about Metal Gear, it's agonizing. So if any of you wish to join me on this roller coaster ride of pain go ahead and read this preview after the jump - 1UP.

So now that that's all squared away, lets talk about new games!

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice For All & Trials and Tribulations.

Don't worry, if you're already burnt out on my long ass introduction, this segment will be brief. Why? I haven't even taken the two games out of their shrink wrap yet. But if you've already read my previous blog posts about Phoenix Wright you know what to expect I'm sure. More comedy, investigating, and cross-examining, I just loved the first so much I had to buy the next sequels! And hey all for a bargain price of $35 brand new! Good deal if you ask me.

(Since I didn't get to snap a picture for my last Sunday blog, I figured I'd take a picture of The Essential Collection this time around.)

Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection.

Oh yeah If you are tired of Metal Gear Solid by now, get ready for more. So I've been playing through The Essential Collection for the past week or so, I started playing the original Metal Gear Solid, and enjoyed it thoroughly again, but about halfway through I called it quits. It doesn't quite feel the same now as it did ten years ago, so in fear of ruining my nostalgia of it, I stopped, in replacement, I started playing Substance again. I actually just started yesterday, so I dedicated all of my Saturday to it, I managed to get all the way from the beginning Tanker chapter to the scene where...

*****SPOILER*****

.

.

You find out Big Shell is actually a giant Metal Gear(Arsenal Gear) and the President gets murdered by Ocelot. So I think I did rather well for one days work.

In other news, I got my May issue of EGM on Friday.

I've yet to read through it all, but just skimming through it they have some great stuff like an awesome SOCOM preview, Grand Theft Auto IV Multiplayer preview, Motorstorm 2 first look, Fallout 3 preview, a Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood preview, and all the usual rumor mill, and reviews.

Oh and just an update on the PS3 news, I'm still leaning towards selling my 360, I layed it out for my madre and she thinks it sounds good, I've been telling my parents about Blu-Ray and I think I got them on the band-wagon, now if I could just get them to front me some cash.

I think that's all for this extremely long blog, talk to you guys later! Oh and I never said this before, but I appreciate the handful of you people who do comment in my blog, it inspires me to go ahead with my journalism career, I plan to work in EGM someday, so if you ever happen to glance into an issue one day, don't be surprised if you see 'By Alex Lam' next to an article in there!

The unthinkable is taking hold within my head, I just might have to sell my 360, to get a PS3 and Metal Gear Solid 4. I'm a self-confessed Metal Gear Solid junkie, I hope by now most people who do know me realize that. With that said, I refuse to not be playing this the day it is released, I REFUSE! Sorry, but in all seriousness Metal Gear Solid is ingrained into my gaming heritage, I'd feel like a jerk not having and enjoying this game day one, like all the others, except Portable Ops, and I feel kinda bad because of that still.

I don't know if it is at all apparent or not, but this is really a decision I don't want to be making, I love my 360, I play The Orange Box on it everyday, and all of my friends have a 360 (yes that includes a special few of you ). But I just don't have a serious enough amount of cash to plop down at once to buy a PS3 and Metal Gear Solid 4, but if I sell my 360 and majority (probably not all) of my games, I could get enough I would think.

Then on the other hand, I could get another job and avoid this whole situation, but then that would be totally like the right thing to do, so that rules that out. I don't know, maybe I'm just caught up in all the hype right now, anything to get me playing Metal Gear Solid 4 would seem like the perfect choice, I'll make my decision soon enough though.

In totally unrelated Metal Gear Solid news, I beat Phoenix Wirght: Ace Attorney. Fantastic game to say the very least, and courtroom proceedings never get old. I made some new purchases last week, but they didn't arrive in the mail soon enough for my weekly Sunday blog, so be on the lookout for that this weekend!

P.S.

That new April Fools Metal Gear Solid 4 gameplay looked wicked!

Well it's been a little over a week since my last update, I missed my Smash Bros. Brawl impressions, but that was probably for the good, I was pretty busy. I know I didn't talk about this at all, but the reason I was busy last week was for my weekend trip to El Paso, Texas, to go visit all of my friends and all that good stuff. Yadda yadda, I just got back last night around 10 pm, and didn't have a computer to blog from. But on my short vacation trip, I managed to pick up some real meaningful purchases, that I also think complement my library.

Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection

Oh and when I said "Meaningful purchases." I really only had one that was gaming related, Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection. Interesting thing about this collection, it's not in as plentiful of stock as I would have hoped. I had to go to 3 different stores to find it, and even when I did find it, it was the only one left; and what was left of it, was kind of mangled. OK it's not that bad, but the box it all came in is a bit jacked up, at least the contents inside are in pristine condition.

But none of these things really matter to a Metal Gear fan such as myself, I was just glad I found it, I'm sure it's the same can be said for most Metal Gear fans given the circumstances. I'm all for retrospectives, but I don't think I want to go back 10 years to talk about the original Metal Gear Solid. I'm going to try to play through it before Metal Gear Solid 4 comes, but it's not priority one on my list, what is is Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. Listening to the Kojima Productions Report has rekindled my fond memories of it, and I figured what better way to refresh my memory on the story than playing through it again! So I'll be playing through it till Metal Gear Solid 4.

(If you're wondering why I'm using this stock photo, blame my Mother,
she took my camera out of town with her.)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Update!

So I've been playing Phoenix Wright for about a week now, I'm so into it, the cases, the characters, everything. For a game with only five cases -I think it's five-, it has a surprisingly long story. I just finished Case 3 on my way back home from El Paso, so I think I'm nearing completion, I'm planning on completing Case 4 during the remainder of my Spring break. I hope I'm not forcing this onto you people too much, but I really recommend this game. Which reminds me, I had the perfect opportunity to purchase the sequel to this game during my stay in El Paso and didn't, I feel like an idiot now, but oh well, I'll get it eventually.

So yeah, for me mainly it's going to be about Metal Gear Solid and Phoenix Wright, then we hit the big releases portion of the year. So yeah, go out there and buy some games folks!

It's been quite a hectic few weeks with releases, namely Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It's totally Smash Bros., from top to bottom, which is something I like, straying too far from an already great formula would only anger people.

And by now I'm sure you're all like "WTF dude, Smash Bros. is so last week," and then the obligatory "You go girlfriend!" *snap**snap*, but I figured since I was so glued to the game, it would be better late than never. I'm trying to catch up from the fatigue, that is Daylight Savings, on top of my Brawl binge, so please bear with me people.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

So Brawl, the best way I'd describe it would be is Super Smash Bros. Melee refined. Not so much the characters, but the mechanics and appearance. I actually am quite disappointed why they nerfed some of the characters and even some of the original core characters from the N64, namely Samus. She was a beast in Melee, well not really a beast, for me at least, but she was much stronger in comparison to the Brawl Samus. However, I'm actually quite happy with her Final Smash and her Zero Suit form. In the end, though, it doesn't bother me nearly as much as say, some tournament Smash players.

Now that the initial impressions are over with for now, we can talk about the Subspace Emissary. Huuh*sigh* wow, the Subspace Emissary, what a piece of work, an incomprehensible amount of jumping is all I can say. The thought process behind this component of the game is terrible, well maybe not terrible, but completely incomprehensible story and redundant level and enemy design, can make you say things like that. I really had to force myself to go through so I could get all the characters, but I guess on the bright side, the bosses were pretty cool.

Mmm I think that's all for Brawl right now, I think I'll post some mulitplayer and online impressions later on this week, before Firiday that's for sure.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

On a retro note, I picked up a copy of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, released in 2005. Anyway I've only finished the first case, but my initial impressions? Very, very good, I can't believe I waited this long to pick it up, just the potential based off the first case, I thought, "Jesus, this could be one of the best series ever."

Even my mother was having a great time assisting me in the first case, she loved the funny animations the characters make, especially when you totally nailed a dude with a big fat "OBJECTION!" and you see their faces go berzerk. Oh and in case you didn't catch that, my MOTHER was having a good time with it, which is just totally wack man. I swear the DS and Wii to older people are like kids and sugar, they can't get enough of it, it really is that intriguing to their demographic. Nintendo and especially the people that share in Nintendo's vision - namely Capcom - are freaking genuises.

I really can't wait to get deeper into this game, and eventually the sequels, I really strongly recommend this game to anyone out there looking for a great DS game or as a first purchase for those looking at getting into DS gaming, I know my DS is really growing on me, just like my Wii. And hey you can get it for only $20 bucks down at GameStop or EB used, since I don't think they print this game new anymore, I may be wrong, though.

I think that's all for now, so look out for those Brawl impressions later this week, and hey maybe some more on Phoenix Wright, later!

I can feel it, the Brawl is nearly here, merely hours away. If it weren't for this confounded human body of mine that requires sleep, I'd go to the midnight launch. But last time I did that was for Halo 3, and I don't think I ever want to do that again; dozens of smelly, fat, prepubescent people huddled into game store with a occupancy of like 25 is not what I have in mind.

I'll wait till WalMart in the morning, bright and early with some Smash Bros, I'll update this blog later on with a FC(Friend Code), or maybe better yet just list at the top with my Jeff gif, yeah, that's probably what I'll do. Anyways, gotta play me some more Melee before I try, and when I say try, I really mean it, to get some sleep, laters!