BlackLight: Tango Down is a first person shooter that is the polar opposite of most games on the market. Instead of building an IP, the franchise already has a movie and comic book deal in the making. The arcade game, available for both Xbox Live and PSN, is just another form of entertainment that developer Zombie Studios is bringing the table.

The setting for BlackLight: Tango Down is a near futuristic setting, located in Eastern Europe, where technology has come to the forefront of war. It’s a first person shooter that blends Modern Warfare, Blade Runner, and Killzone. At $15, this downloadable arcade game packs quite the punch and might surprise even the most veteran of gamers.

Unreal, fo real - BlackLight uses the Unreal Engine, much like half the games out on the market. It’s a perfect engine for arcade titles because of its wide accessibility and familiarity works for both developers and gamers. Even though this is an arcade title, there are some impressive visuals. As mentioned, the game has a strong resemblance of Killzone, and the effects of grenades and visual tricks they play with your head-up display are unique. The title could use a little bit more color as it suffers from a bit of the gray palette, but then again so does every other futuristic war title set in a broken down city.

I see you - BlackLight features a nifty little tool called the HRV (Hyper Reality Visor) that allows you to see friendlies, enemies, and even ammo and health crates through walls. Though you’re defenseless when using the tool, it’s a unique feature to the title and surprisingly comes in handy when you want to scope out your surroundings. Keeping with the game’s gritty style, the HDV’s head up display isn’t some type of cheat code, but rather provides assistance in locating a general proximity of your enemies. For instance, it doesn’t give you details on how far away they are or how many walls they might be behind. The tool is balanced and a fun addition to the game.

A pixelated piece of property - One of the first things you’ll notice about BlackLight is the sci-fi futuristic tech. While games like Modern Warfare, or even classics like Counter-Strike, deal with flashbangs and smoke grenades, BlackLight deals with digi grenades and EMPs. Getting hit with an EMP sends your HUD to crazy town and displays pixelated obscurities and will reboot leaving you blind to the world. The digi grenades on the other hand will produce a pixelated ball that distorts the area around it. Not even your fancy HDV can see through it.

The price is right - There aren’t a whole lot of games on the Xbox Live or PSN service that cost $15, and for good reason. Not a whole lot of games can boast the amount of content that BlackLight includes. With plenty of multiplayer modes, a coop mode, an expansive set of weapons and unlockables, as well as 12 multiplayer maps, BlackLight definitely gives you your money’s worth. It’s like Modern Warfare, without the campaign, and costs as much as one of their map packs.

Matchmaker, matchmaker - Perhaps it’s the PC gamer in me, but I like to look at my options when selecting a game. Why do I have to pinpoint my gametype and succumb to the powers of the matchmaking gods? Why can’t we create a lobby, broadcast it to everyone and sit there and wait for someone to join. I’d much rather have the option to look at a menu of games in progress or being created and choose from that list instead of joining a game, waiting about five minutes and only having a 3-3 team deathmatch bout to show for it.

I don’t feel like cooperating - It’s nice that BlackLight comes with a four player cooperative mode, but it’s a shame I won’t play it a whole lot. Why? Because, unlike using matchmaking for all the other multiplayer gametypes, the coop mode doesn’t. You’re forced to invite friends to play. That’s nice if you have three other people who bought the game, but not so much if you’re like me and can’t convince your cheap friends to spend $15. How hard would it have been to (here it comes again) setup a lobby and wait for a few like-minded individuals to come on and go a few rounds.

Is anyone out there? - I’m not sure if this is a problem with the game or just the lack of people online, but it can take quite some time to get a match started. Normally, deathmatch games seem to be the most popular, but if you go for team deathmatch, domination, last man standing, or detonation, prepare to wait (as in at least five to ten minutes). It could be that everyone is playing deathmatch, it could be that people haven’t bought the game yet and are waiting for MY stamp of approval (probably not), or it could be that the matchmaking process is just slow. Regardless, it’s something to think about when you want to get on and play a few games without waiting too long.

I left my gun in my other pants - There’s no worse of a feeling when you finally break into a new rank, unlock that shotgun you’ve been anticipating, and then have to wait until the match is over to use it. BlackLight does not let you customize your gear during gameplay and it’s a big boner-killer in my eyes. Even though you’re given four separate kits to choose from, sometimes changing on the fly is essential. Why not let me customize? Maybe I had a change of heart and want to switch my sniper rifle or grenade type or scope or whatever… Call me Joey-impatient, but I don’t feel like waiting another 10 minutes until I can change my arsenal.

*MMOMFG was provided a review code for the Xbox 360

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2. Tekken 6 MMOMFG Review
3. Assassin’s Creed 2 – The MMOMFG Review

Pixels & Pinups: The Ultimate Gamer Babe Throwdown Introduction

Are you a fan of hot babes? More specifically, are you a fan of hot gamer babes? If so, then have we got a competition for you! A few weeks ago, we launched our Pixels & Pinups: The Ultimate Gamer Babe competition and today, it’s time for round 10 of our too hot for TV babe buffet! Here’s how this smoking hot babe-off will play out: Every Friday the MMOMFG staff (no pun intended) will seek out two hot gamer babes, be them virtual or fleshy, to duel it out battle royale style. And by battle royale, I mean you lucky dudes and dudettes will get to vote for who you think struts their stuff the best! Each week two new hotties will duke it out in the hopes of making it to the December Showdown, where the winner from each week leading up to that point will then compete to determine who is the sauciest tart of 2010!

After a two week siesta we are finally bringing back P & P with a bang, and some good, kinky latex. Just try not to get too distracted by the cleaving boobage…Seriously, we need you at full alert!

This week’s battle will have you hacking and slashing to a different beat. Enter, Lady of the Devil May Cry series and Bayonetta of her self tittied titled game, Bayonetta. Both of these smokin’ ladies mean serious business, and have proven time and time again that that they are not afraid to use force in close quarter combat and excessive acrobatics to get the job done. Lady has been around the block and while she may draw your loyalty, Bayonetta is proving that she has more than a couple of tricks up her heels.

What’s Hot

Earning trust – It takes a great deal to get on the good side of Lady, it seems (as evidenced in much of DMC 3). But, I suppose anyone would have trust issues when your Father takes the life of your Mother in cold blood and you are then tasked with hunting down the man who helped bring you into this world. At any rate, trust is low with this one. If however, you prove your worth, it will be all worth the while. Just ask Dante. She tried to take his head off on more than one occasion, but his persistence, or persistent interference rather,  finally brought the tension to a boil. After they had it out, Lady showed her “softer” side in aiding in Dante’s quest and even going into partnership with him and coining his shop ‘Devil May Cry.’ Sometimes the best fish are the hardest to catch, or something like that.

Variety is the spice of life – I’ve mentioned before how I am a sucker for green and blue eyed beauties (real original right?). But, I’m not talking about just straight up pearly blues, or dark, deep greens. I like something a bit more exotic. Like my GF, whose eyes change from green/hazel to gray to blue throughout the day. Naturally, I was all giddy when I noticed that Lady “suffers” from heterochromia, a condition causing one eye to be differently colored than the other. and lo and behold, one is green and one is blue-ish (more purple really but I’ll take what I can get)! some may find it creepy, I find it drop dead sexay.

Methinks she’s compensating – People say men compensate all the time, so what’s not to say our Female counterparts are guilty of the same trick? Lady is more than adequately equipped…with close quarter skills and big guns. But, is it all too good to be true? She is a marvel to watch as she flips through the air in her short shorts, wubbly dubs practically falling out of her shirt. That’s good and all, but the big ass gun scares me. Makes me think she’s hiding something. Like, you might get back to the room and right when the moment is getting hot, you find she has a little extra appendage that you weren’t quite prepared for. Then again, she could just be extremely comfortable with her body and has a taste for big guns.

[View with PicLens]

What’s Hot

Quality time – We definitely get more quality time with Bayonetta than with our previous contestant. Which is arguably good and bad. For one, this allows us ample time to creepily check out her derriere from all sorts of angles, and second, we get to learn about her gun fetish. Chicks with guns are hot, simple as that. And, yes, Lady had her fare share, but Bayonetta puts her collection to shame. Homegirl pretty much had guns coming out the wahzoo, and then some. The only concern here is that you would want to properly body search this acrobatic minx before jumping between the sheets, you know, for safety. On second thought, that really shouldn’t be a concern…

Total Domination – Princess Bayonetta is not one to mess around with, and you know this. If the leather/latex onesie didn’t give it that away, you should have been keyed in by the fact that she can use her hair, HER HAIR, to whip enemies into check. That sounds worse than any S&M device I have ever heard of. Some of you may find this appealing, and more power to you, but it gives me the willies. Though, she does draw me in with those saucy librarian glasses. Damn you glasses! it’s all a lie!

Bad resemblance – Bayonetta looks a little too much like one, Sarah Palin; and anything that reminds me of the fact that she almost came close to becoming the Vice President of this great country makes me want to run out into the street and punch a kitten. Nuff’ said.

[View with PicLens]

My vote goes for Lady. Bayonetta is a solid 10 in her own right, but I fear she may be way too much woman for me. Lady, though off putting at first, has proven she can be an extremely loyal partner after having it out a few times. And, as long as she’s not sporting a little talking weiner, or ANYTHING along those lines under all that hotness, I think we are good to go.

Voting

Staff will each get to cast one vote. Readers can vote as many times as they want on site. Vote to our Twitter to double your vote value and vote to our Facebook page to triple your vote value. Votes to Twitter and Facebook will only be counted once per voter, but will still retain the previously mentioned value. Voting begins the Friday when the post is published, and will end Wednesday 12pm EST the following week.

WINNER: This week’s lucky lady, is Lady! Voting is now closed and a big thanks to all who participated in this week’s throw-down. Be sure to check back on Friday to see who will battle it out this week.

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Having previously received a behind closed doors meeting at PAX East with TopWare Interactive regarding Two Worlds II, I was more than excited about getting some actual hands-on time with the title at this year’s E3. Equally excited about meeting with the good people of SouthPeak and TopWare at-show, I wandered on over to their booth to see what their ambitious product had in store for me. Being led through the demo by TopWare’s PR and community director, Jake DiGennaro at PAX, he put the controller in my hand this time around and told me to give the game engine a spin. Quickly I was thrown into a land somewhat unfamiliar to me, as I had not previously played the original Two Worlds. No worries however, as the mechanics were quick to pick up and easy to master.

The combat system, although not 100 percent complete, smacked of your typical hack/slash title. Melee combat, while a key element to any action/RPG, definitely takes a back seat to one of the shining spots of the game, which is spell customization. Jake showed me the ropes in terms of the sheer amount of customization options in the game, including a spell a coworker created, based on his favorite practical joke of putting junk on doors so it falls on people. Combining a tornado spell with one that summons a ton of garbage in game, Jake beckoned a veritable “trash vortex” that surrounded the player, knocking enemies across the swampy marsh. Only having the time to check out a handful of spells, I was guaranteed the variety and complexity of the spell system is a feature to definitely check out when I’ve got plenty of free time. I’m typically the type of gamer who wants to experiment with every little detail, so you can guarantee I’ll unlock and discover every spell they can throw at me come release.

As discussed at PAX East, the game takes place over a variety of backdrops including desolate terrains with swamp creatures on your heels, as well as feudal Japan style settings. Each unique location offers its own armor styles as well, which are easily switched in and out of with pre-set armor combinations. Tired of throwing down with dual swords? Quickly switch to a pike and whirlwind those skink archers out of your way before quickly grabbing your staff and fireball nuking those orcs. The feature of not being locked into a specific play style is nice for the free-stylish gamer. There is nothing worse than blowing a talent point and not being able to reach your final goal, so Two Worlds II has respeccing available if you picked a skill that lets you look better with your shirt off, but doesn’t provide much more. Not that a talent like t hat exists in the game, but you get my point. In regards to the armor sets, the detail of each is stunning and worthy of checking out in the images below, even if you aren’t a fan of the action/RPG genre.

The game has a ways to go before it hits shelves on October 5 for the PS3 and Xbox 360, but TopWare Interactive and Reality Pump look like they’re on the right path. Will the game be the orc slayer of the year? Only time can tell, but after my hands-on experience, I’m hopeful they can deliver a solid action/RPG title for the second installment of the series. My only suggestion? Call the next one Three Worlds I.

[View with PicLens]

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1. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds – Hands-on Impressions from E3 2010
2. Mafia II – Hands-on Impressions from E3 2010
3. nail’d – Hands-on Impressions from E3 2010

Being surrounded with hundreds of new titles at E3, it is sometimes refreshing to pick up a controller and experience gameplay that can bring you back to old school memories of games that don’t require you read an encyclopedia to get the point. Luckily, Techland and Deep Silver had a title at E3 that I could sink my teeth into and not come out feeling mentally exhausted. The game is nail’d, an ATV/motorbike off-road racer, that has you competing for supremacy of the mountain in a number of breathtaking settings. The hands-on gameplay at-show offered two different levels, each with different play styles, as one had you trekking across multiple waterlogged laps, while the other was a race to the bottom of the mountain speed trek through a logging camp.

Having heard details about nail’d prior to meeting at-show, I felt I had probably seen it/heard it before, but luckily, the gameplay and visuals, although still in the early stages, were enough to keep me on the edge of my seat. nail’d feels like a homage to classic racers like Jet Moto, Big Red Racing and ATV Offroad Fury, but with its own style and taste.

The beauty of nail’d is that it isn’t trying to be the most over-the-top stunt induced racer out there. It is a classic pick up and play off-road jaunt that has you trying to get from point A to point B faster than your opponents. During the races, you’ll have huge jumps that will increase your power boost meter, but don’t think you’ll be seeing 360s, Super Man grabs or anything else. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as nail’d isn’t trying to be SSX with wheels. The gameplay is locked down tight with solid controls and speed that will blow your hair back. I was unable to race against other real players, but the computer AI was putting up enough competition to have me sweating down to the wire.

I was informed that despite winning first place in my race, I was still two and a half minutes slower than the record holder. The sad part is that the race took me five minutes to complete. That means I took twice as long as the record holder. WTF?

Deep Silver and Techland aim to release nail’d during Q4 of 2010. It will be available on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. With a deep single-player campaign, multiplayer with up to 12 racers playing at a time, tons of heavy metal cuts on the sound track and un-lockable vehicle customization options, you’ve got a lot to look forward with this title. If you’re the off-road racer type, get nail’d!

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1. Mafia II – Hands-on Impressions from E3 2010
2. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds – Hands-on Impressions from E3 2010
3. Two Worlds II – Hands-on Impressions from E3 2010

For yet another round of E3 impressions, I have decided to focus on my hands-on gameplay I got with Mafia II. Being offered a chance to play another “demo” format of Mafia II on the Xbox 360, different than my gameplay experiences at Penny Arcade East (PAX East), would this time around change my opinions on the mission driven, sandbox title? You’re about to find out.

2K Games and 2K Czech have continued to buff the story of Mafia II, this time pitting you on a mission to track down the Fat Man, who has vital information you’ll need to track down some mobster slime. As soon as I booted up, I was thrown into the world of my mobster, Vito. The phone rings and I learn for my next mission I need to get to the meet up location quickly. After checking out my surroundings and digging the classic 40s and 50s style design (and possibly checking the house for Playboys), I head out to look for a car. In the garage, you’ve got access to three vehicles, all with their own perks. One is built for speed, another for handling and one that can likely handle a bullet or two. I pick the speediest vehicle and head out towards my waypoint, enjoying views of the 10 square miles of Empire Bay. Anyone who played the initial Mafia will be familiar with the handling of vehicles and the minimap set up, but the little features like the licensed songs from the era really give you that sense of realism and the Illusion Engine has things looking better than ever.

Now behind the wheel, I head out towards my first mission. The game has a speed limit (if you turn it on) to help you avoid picking up the attention of the local police, but like always, I threw caution to the wind and put the pedal to the metal. Needless to say, the game can be a bit unforgiving for reckless driving, such as speeding tickets, road-raging drivers, and the occasional pedestrian road-kill. All three can lead to an arrest, or cop shootout, but I ended up wrapping my car around a telephone pole and effectively ending my first mission before it began. Sad times? Nah, I just loaded it back up and dicked around less the second time.

With the 2K Games PR person talking me through some of the features, I quickly realized Mafia II isn’t trying to be a “me too” sandbox title, but really has the legs to be the next open world title that stays in your disk tray for months to come. I was impressed, to say the least, as my enjoyment of the game was even higher than my first experience with it at PAX. Once the first mission kicked off, you’re thrown into a heated shootout with a group of baddies, while trying to track the Fat Man down through a warehouse. You gain access to a mounted gun, have your fair share of fire power and even can whoop some ass with your bare hands, if you are so inclined. I stuck with my trusty side arm and apparently relied on it too much however, as I forgot to pick up extra ammo and ended up going into the second part of the mission without ammo. That was a bad idea. Mafia II’s difficulty can be unforgiving and I really regret not picking up that shotgun ammo that was laying on the floor before the elevator went upstairs. I failed the mission about 15 times before the 2K Game’s PR guy helped out. He also could not get past the two Tommy gun wielding baddies before he called over their in-house developer who sat down and quickly cleared out that part of the mission and loaded me up with ammo.

Well warned and ready to see the next part of the mission, I pushed on. Without spoiling any of the mission, it was satisfying and just one of 50+ missions planned for the game. I really like the controls of Mafia II and look forward to getting my hands on the final product. You too can get your hands on a slice of the game, as the demo hits in August on the PSN and Xbox Live. Mafia II will be on shelves August 24, so practice your best mobster lingo and warm up your Tommy guns, as you’ll be blasting mafia rats like they’re going out of style. If you have any questions regarding my impressions or the game in general, please leave them in the comment section below.

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1. nail’d – Hands-on Impressions from E3 2010
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3. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds – Hands-on Impressions from E3 2010

Let me explain something right off the bat. Somehow, I managed to completely miss out on Marvel vs. Capcom 1 and 2. Now let me also explain that I’ve at least been a huge fan of the majority of the other Capcom fighters out there. Now that we’ve cleared that up, last week at E3, I managed to get about an hour’s worth of playtime of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and had myself a virtual blast. It all began when I entered Capcom’s massive PR exhibit area, which allowed for line-free access to their upcoming hit titles, including Dead Rising 2, Okamiden, MotoGP 09/10, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and a few others. I was immediately drawn to the huge Marvel set up and wanted to get my hands on the title, as my fellow editor and cartoonist for MMOMFG, Cam, had informed me that I MUST check this game out. Needless to say, I’m glad I did. As one of my top five titles I played at-show, MvC 3 did not disappoint.

When offered the chance to play by one of Capcom’s friendly PR folks, I told him I wanted to throw down in a head-to-head challenge against him. Being a classically trained Street Fighter 2 pro, a lot of the fighter’s skill sets were familiar to me from my old school days of 2D fighters. Luckily for me, it translated to a number of fighters in the playable version at show, including Dante, Hulk, Captain America, Chris Redfield, Felicia, Wolverine, Iron Man, Deadpool and Ryu. There may have been a few others that were accessible, but my brain has literally been fried from my E3 experience. What I do remember is that the game plays like a gem and it was one of the most fluid tag-team fighters I’ve ever played. I freaking loved Super Street Fighter IV, but it doesn’t touch how much fun I was having in the Capcom booth with MvC 3. Hell, I’m not sure if I played another title at E3 that provided as much fun.

It really didn’t help that I had begun trash talking my PR friend from Capcom, as I need to stay on good terms with him, so I can beat his ass again when the game comes out in 2011. Hopefully he’ll forgive me for getting the better of him in our best of three match tournament we had. MMOMFG proudly came out on top, like usual.

Back to the game though, the characters all have flawless animations and next-gen graphics to match the speed of the action. The fluid shifting between fighters for assist moves, and even switch outs (tag-ins), work perfectly in the 3v3 tag fights, with the game having you play as much on the defensive as you will be on the offensive. If you think you’ve got them lined up for a Super, they may quickly shift fighters and you’ll be left wasting your built up power on a non-existent enemy that just flashed off the screen. In my case, Capcom’s PR pro was capable of accurately blocking roughly 90% of my supers. I will say that I was able to pull off Chris Redfield’s Super a few times, which led to some clutch comeback victories. The use of Variable Combinations allowed for some key aerial combos amongst the available fighters in the heat of the action. Very nice!

In terms of what to expect, gamers will find what felt like a fully polished fighter this early in the production process, so the wait for 2011 should adequately provide the time to work out any last minute kinks. The hardest thing for Capcom now? Keeping Marvel vs. Capcom 3 fans like me from begging for an earlier release. Sadly, we’re all stuck in the same boat in having to wait. Nooooooooo!!!!! If you’ve got any questions about the game or how it plays, let me know, as I’d love to talk more about this title with true fans of the series, as well as late adopters. I do apologize for being late to the party…

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3. Two Worlds II – Hands-on Impressions from E3 2010

505 Games has one of the cutest/hilarious titles ready for release at the end of June. Technically, Naughty Bear hits shelves in exactly a week on Tuesday, June 29 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game plays host to a mischievous bear hellbent on causing as much fear and chaos in his town of fellow bears. The game looks like Care Bears on crack and it plays like Grand Theft Auto, if Nico was a cuddly teddy bear. However, don’t let the sunshine and lollipops fool you. After getting a first hand preview of Naughty Bear at this year’s E3, I have nothing but great things to say about this much anticipated game. Although the group of 20 or so of us watching the title in action didn’t get to actually play, it was one of those games that is just as much fun to watch. The goal of the demo version we were watching? Cause chaos and rack up enough points to complete one of the many objectives for that part of the town’s missions. How do you rack up the points? Combo random (or planned) acts of aggression, humiliation, or downright brutality against the other bears, police bears, or objects found around the peaceful city.

You’ll giggle in devilish delight at the sight of bears being set on fire over open campfires, snicker at a bear having his head smashed in a refrigerator, or nearly crap yourself when you see a teddy bear get a shiv, prison yard style. The points build up by how much fear you can instill, so there are actual plans that need to be laid out to drain as much points from each bear before you kill them, or they hysterically choose to take their own bear lives. Do I sound evil? Well it is all in good fun. However, this is definitely not a game for the kids, as the themes, as well as jokes should be enjoyed by us older bears and not the cubs.

If you’re concerned the title is going to get stale or run out of its flair quickly, forget about it! Each stage offers plenty to do and the addition of skilled bears like ninja and SWAT bears, that are tougher to take down and evade in later stages, should keep you on your toes, or should i say paws, for quite some time. From my experience at E3, I can’t wait to give Naughty Bear a spin and luckily, the wait isn’t too far out. Beats the hell out of demoing games slated for 2011.

In addition to all the hoopla shown at E3, 505 Games has just released details on the multiplayer modes, which include Assault, Cake Walk, Golden Uzi, and Jelly Wars. Assault consists of two minute rounds where red and blue teams of bears take turns alternating between defending and assaulting an iconic statue in town. Cake Walk is about tracking down the cupcake and holding it as long as you can to rack up the highest score. Golden Uzi is all about trying to get your hands on the Golden Uzi of Doomness and eradicating your fellow bears. There is one catch, you only get points with Uzi kills. Jelly Wars is the ultimate mode for strategy and team play. Once you’re dead, you’re doneski. If you work properly, you can repair each other, assist in transporting key items and objects, as well as repairing them. Three players will have to build the ultimate mixing machine to make five jellies to transport safely, if done well, these three bears win. The other Naughty Bears will try to destroy the three bears or all the jellies and claim victory for themselves.

Sound awesome? It should be. Check out the trailer below and don’t forget, Naughty Bear is only going to run you $49.99. Not bad for a game full of killer humor and fun!

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3. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds – Hands-on Impressions from E3 2010

After surviving E3 2010, I began to ponder which impression posts I’d write first. I played so many incredible games on display, as well as many behind closed doors in meetings, that I pretty much had to pull which post comes next from a hat. However, before I partake in that method, I really need to get my thoughts on Rock Band 3 written. Having been a purchaser of all Rock Bands, except Green Day, I’ve solidly supported MTV and Harmonix as my rocking games of choose. I was particularly impressed with the decision to not release a full Rock Band title last year, to allow additional time to develop that next revolutionary idea for rhythm gaming. With the recent news release of Rock Band 3 utilizing a keyboard, I was happy. A ton of people, myself included, have been begging for this inclusion since day one. However, it isn’t always the easiest to implement new technology such as additional plastic peripherals like REAL guitars and REAL keyboards to provide a great gameplay experience beyond just a cool idea on paper.

After sitting through Harmonix’ Rock Band 3 presentation at E3, they proved you can get seven people on stage, all playing instruments (three singers, three guitars, one set of drums, and one keyboard) and look like you’re having a blast. In fact, one of the guitarists was plugged into an amp and played the song on expert with the new Fender six-string guitar that works as a real guitar even when not playing the game. The Pro Mode for keyboard and guitar allow players to truly learn the songs they are playing so they can take their rocking skills outside of the game, which to me is bad ass. I’d consider myself the most amateur of musicians in terms of piano and guitar. I can play chords and “play” other people’s songs through tabs, but I couldn’t say I’ve ever really “learned” a real song. Rock Band 3 will do just that. As easy as picking up and playing beginner or actively following the tutorials and lessons, one can go from day one guitarist novice to thrashing expert by learning the use of a real guitar, or even becoming a real piano player over time.

This technology and immersion of video games with music has finally reached that next step. I also met with Activision for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and checked out PowerGig, another game utilizing a real guitar, but Rock Band 3 is currently at the top of the class. Taking rhythm-based games to the next level, the only thing that was more interesting than watching seven people play Rock Band 3 was to actually pick up the guitar and feel its sensing technologies. The guitar, though not cheap in price or quality, can accurately track your fingers on the fret board. The game can follow your fingers running up and down the neck of the guitar in a way that accurately makes you feel like your shredding and not just blanking staring at a screen trying to see the connection between song and guitar. You are just pushing buttons anymore, if you’re pro enough; you’ll be holding real chords and following songs’ real solos, which can make even the most novice feel pro. Slow down the tutorial and learn the notes if you’re having trouble keeping up.

With the keyboard, you’re going to be holding the real chords, playing single noted solos and eventually work your way up to playing real songs beyond just Let it Be by the Beatles (basically four chords). Luckily, the keyboard can be played on regular beginners mode all the way up to pro keys on expert. You’ll be like Elton John or Billy Joel in no time! Right, Piano Man?

All in all, Rock Band 3 blew me away and I honestly can’t wait to hand over my money for the guitar, keyboard and copy of Rock Band 3 this holiday season. Damn, more plastic peripherals laying around? Not really, as I’ll be able to hook up my current midi keyboard and the real guitar will go nicely next to my Ovation acoustic hanging on my wall. Well played, Harmonix!

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Blur

If you were lucky enough to participate in the Blur Beta, or read our Blur Beta impressions, you are probably wondering if the final product turned out to be worth a snot. Not a huge racing game fan? Think Blur looks a little too like a certain game from childhoods past? Does seeing or hearing skid-marks have you unconsciously grabbing at your trousers? Don’t let that deter you from checking out a game that has enormous potential and had our engines running from the Beta stage. Except for that last one. That’s just kind of weird, and gross. Mostly gross.

Not just Mario Kart on steroids – It is easy to tag Blur as a Mario Kart knockoff, but in all honesty, why is that a bad thing? Blur certainly brings back memories of battling for the Mushroom Cup, but all the while providing its own unique visual and powered up racing experience. The combination of social options, online multiplayer, and leveling up system, not to mention the dozens of beautifully detailed and licensed cars, provide a fresh take on a familiar type of game.  The addition of team-based multiplayer racing events also offers a fun and exciting twist on typical racing conventions. View Blur as paying homage to a classic game (and genre) of our youth instead of seeing it as a knockoff and I guarantee you will fall in love with Bizarre Creation’s take on powered-up racing. You can even go a little old school and rock some 4 player split screen, sweet!

An unlikely addiction – I will always be a fan of games that allow you to level up, especially when it comes to online gaming. The ranking/level-up system in Blur’s online mode is absolutely amazing and exceptionally addicting. Yes, it literally reeks of Modern Warfare and the likes ranking system, but fortunately that doesn’t keep it from being any less enjoyable or satisfying. The more you rank up, the more challenges, mods, cars, and game types you can unlock. Better than anything MW had in its games, is an in-game stat tracker that keeps you up to date on all your challenge goals, a little cosmetic feature that I am an advocate for in every game.

Yet again in similar fashion to MW, Blur has its own take on Prestige mode, which they have chosen to title Legend mode. Reach level 50 in Blur and you have the option to enter Legend mode. Unlike Prestige mode however, if you choose to become a Legend you will not be completely reduced to scrub status. While challenges and anything you have unlocked will be completely reset, you will unlock a unique, fully upgraded Legend Car to wipe the competition with. Become a Legend of Legends by unlocking all 10 Legendary whips.

There is also a handy dandy little recap feature that Blur implements each and every time you turn the game back on. The sexy little AI voice will bring you up to speed on everything you accomplished in single and multiplayer from your last racing tour. Blur again takes a familiar feature and builds on it, and in the process creates an insanely addicting paradigm for even non-racing-genre fans such as myself.

Mod that whip – Mods offer an aspect to online racing games that I don’t think has been experienced to this point, and you will do well to unlock the Mod shop as quick as possible to help even the playing field. The ability to equip up to three mods allows you to be the type of racer you wish to be. Play it safe with defensive mods, try and gain some ground with offensive mods, or flex your cylinders with fan based mods allowing you to level up quicker. Whatever you choose, the countless combinations of mods guarantee that no two races will ever be the same. Tweak your mod load out to what suits you and the track at hand the best, and reap the benefits by winning the race and the crowd.

Social Annoyance, +1,000 Fans – Finally, a video game that lets you get back at all those Facebook friends who like to update you every time they water a plant in Farmville. This is admittedly an ambiguous point, and could easily be viewed as a negative, but the chance to finally spam back the Farmville faithful has me all smiles. Blur provides the ability to annoy your friends via Twitter and Facebook with a variety of single and multiplayer updates. Rest assured, I’ll be publishing my Blur stats every chance I get.  Thanks for the updating firepower!

Time to play catch up – For those late to the party, playing Blur can be extremely frustrating in the beginning. This goes without saying for any multiplayer game, particularly level-up styled games. But the frustration goes beyond players being extremely too acquainted with maps (tracks), and crosses over into coming in contact with cars that are simply way too fast or difficult to blow up for your level 1 hooptie causing you to finish in a less than desired place time after time. On the flipside of this, Blur does do a nice job of trying to help out latecomers by offering a lobby that is level 1-10 only and also allows you to quickly gain fans (XP) through its various challenges. My advice for latecomers is to stick with it. If you have too much pride to find yourself in the noob lobby, don’t forget, while it may be tough to finish tops in the beginning there is plenty of XP to be had by shunting the fark out of all those high-dollar rich boy cars.

W-AI am I playing this? – The beautifully addicting online gameplay is counter set by one monster turd of a single player option. It’s not even that the “story” mode was terribly bad. It was evenly surprisingly intriguing for a fair amount of time, but after a while the lack of good competition became extremely mundane. I’d say the one consistent lacking quality across all racing games is the poor AI implanted, and Blur is no exception. Maybe I just got too used to the stiff competition of online play, or I had been properly put through my paces in my online skirmishes, but I rarely found the single player to be any sort of challenge. One redeeming quality to the single player option, assuming you know someone else who bought “another racing game,” is the ability to challenge friends to beat your best times and accomplishments for various race tracks. This feature is not nearly enough to make the single player option worth spending any significant time on, however.

Aside from its addictive, dare I say seductive, online features, Blur offers a variety of swag that is unmatched in many high-quality games, not only in the racing genre. With several dozen licensed cars and race courses from all around the world you will be sure to have a rip roaring time as you progress through the ranks, and enough hardware to keep the experience fresh for months to come.

The stigma behind “just another racing game.” Blur offers a revitalizing online experience for racing games. Yes, it perhaps borrows aspects from past games, but it does so in a way that helps deliver a clean and adrenaline packed racing game and ultimately, in my case anyway, draws the attention and fandom of gamers who aren’t the go-to-racer types.

*A review copy of Blur was provided to us for the Xbox 360 Gaming System

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Pixels & Pinups: The Ultimate Gamer Babe Throwdown – Uncharted 2 Edition

Are you a fan of hot babes? More specifically are you a fan of hot gamer babes? If so, then have we got a competition for you! Nearly two months ago, we launched our Pixels & Pinups: The Ultimate Gamer Babe competition and today it’s time for round 7 of our too hot for TV babe buffet! Here’s how this smoking hot babe-off will play out: Every Friday, the MMOMFG staff (no pun intended) will seek out two hot gamer babes, be them virtual or fleshy, to duel it out battle royale style. And by battle royale, I mean you lucky dudes and dudettes will get to vote for which you think struts their stuff the best! Each week, two new hotties will duke it out in the hopes of making it to the December Showdown, where the winner from each week leading up to that point will then compete to determine who the sauciest tart of 2010 is!

Last week was a 64-bit clash between the babes of GoldenEye with the lovely Natalya slightly edging out the leggy minx Xenia.

This week we skirt through the mountain tops in search of Marco Polo’s not-so-hidden treasures, the ladies of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2. Elena Fisher, the beautiful reporter and initial love interest of Nathan Drake from Uncharted, meets up in a clash of hotness against Chloe Frazer, the female Indiana Jones with a penchant for sex and double-crossing. What better difference in beauties could there be? We’re putting quiet and sweet for sexy and devilish in this week’s competition. So get your voting fingers ready and let us know who tugs at your heart strings.

What’s Hot

Sexy/sweet – My first journey into Nathan Drake’s world put me in contact with the beautiful blonde that is Elena Fisher. She had a seductive innocence that allowed me (Drake) to fall for her. When you mix sweet and sexy in a package as tight as Elena (and voiced by Emily Rose), you’ve got one hell of a bombshell. Leggy, leggy blonde!

The hot reporter in distress – If you haven’t played Uncharted 2, curse you! But if you have played it, you’ll remember coming across Elena in distress with her cameraman in-tow. There is something about having to save the blonde beauty from potential captors that can make a man feel good about himself. Not to mention that she joins you on your search for booty and booty.

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Witty sarcasm can be a turn off – Elena being a proficient wordsmith tends to know just exactly how to bring a guy back down to size. Drake is just looking for some hot tail during his adventures and doesn’t need a snarky broad to cut him down simply because he found a new piece of tail. Waking up freezing in the Himalayas, you’d expect Drake would only get blue balls once from one icy situation, not from two.

What’s Hot

That accent, oh baby – Chloe has a hot bod, there is no denying that. What separates her from our blonde haired damsel Elena is that dark head of hair and a sexy Australian accent. Technically she may not necessarily be Australian in the game, but she is voiced by the lovely Claudia Black, who hails from down under.

Being a bad ass is hot – You’ve got a hot little exotic honey who knows her way around a bar fight or a bedroom in Chloe. Hard to top that right? Well luckily for you she’ll kiss you, and then kick your ass. Not a bad thing. I’ll take a black eye over a bruised ego any day.

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Double-crossing hussy – She’ll definitely F you one way or another, whether she’s two-timing you with your old drinking buddy, or stealing that recently acquired treasure. As hot as she may be, you’re probably going to want to watch your jewels (family or otherwise) and keep an eye on your coin-purse.

In all honesty, this was like picking between a good beer and a vodka tonic. I love them both! To be so torn in my decisions almost makes me want to pop in my copy of UC2 this weekend and experience both biddies all over again. I am only going to pick Chloe Frazer, as her sexy accent and bad girl attitude won my heart during play. Drake can have Elena, I’ll take Chloe for myself.

Voting

Staff will each get to cast one vote. Readers can vote as many times as they want on site. Tweet this or retweet ours to double your vote value. Or post a vote to our Facebook page to triple your vote value. If you write your vote on a the back of a fortune cookie slip, wrap it around a pigeons leg, and send it to us that way we’ll pretty much call the competition in your favor. Voting ends Wednesday 12pm EST next week.

WINNER

Ding ding ding! This round is over folks. Voting is now closed, and our winner this week is Chloe, with her exotic seductiveness. Thanks to all who voted, be sure to check back this friday for the next battle of gamer babe supremacy.

*Images courtesy of Game Axis, GameSpot, Naughty Dog, SpotGamers, and Wikipedia

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