50 Cent Blood on the Sand

Sierra Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, announced today that 50 Cent will reprise his role as video game hero with the upcoming sequel to the hit 2005 PlayStation 2 and Xbox game with 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. 50 Cent and G Unit’s Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and DJ Whoo Kid will star and provide voice and likeness in the upcoming video game this fall on Xbox 360 and PS3.

In this fictional follow-up story to the multi-million unit selling Bulletproof video game, players will be able to play as one of the world’s biggest hip-hop stars in an all-out battle to protect 50 Cent’s assets and to collect payment from a crooked overlord.

So that's the blurb, here's what we think... why oh why is this yet another representation of African American crime in a video game. It's ridiculous that Fiddy is helping to maintain and perpetuate what is essentially inherent racism in video gaming (as has been discussed by many gaming academics). Fiddy.. how about you make something with a positive role model rather than popping caps in other hoodlum asses.

SingStar Summer Party - PS2

Roll on summer - the weather’s good, the nights are long, it’s the perfect time to get everyone together for a party - and SingStar’s going to be right there with you. SingStar Summer Party for PlayStation 2 (PS2) is arriving this April with 30 great tracks that are just perfect for those hot summer nights. We’re talking about classic songs and videos that just capture that summer feeling: tracks from Blondie, Rihanna, David Bowie, Klaxons and Peter Andre to name just a few.

With a track list bursting with feel-good favourites, your SingStar Summer Party will turn even the most reluctant guest into a stage worthy Show stopper - there really is something for everyone to enjoy as you sing your way through all these great hits:

Adele - Chasing Pavements
Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry On Their Own
Blondie - The Tide is High
Blur - Girls & Boys
Booty - Luv Shine
Chesney Hawkes - The One & Only
David Bowie - Let's Dance
Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out
Dirty Pretty Things - Bang Bang You're Dead
Dodgy - Good Enough
Elton John - I'm Still Standing
Five Star - System Addict
Girls Aloud - Call The Shots
Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot
Klaxons - It's Not Over Yet
KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See
Lou Bega - Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...)
Madness - House of Fun
Mel & Kim - Respectable
Mika - Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)
Peter Andre - Mysterious Girl
Plain White Ts - Hey There Delilah
Pulp - Disco 2000
Razorlight - In The Morning
Rihanna - Umbrella
Sugababes - Red Dress
Texas - Summer Son
Toto - Hold The Line
Wham! - Club Tropicana
Yazz - The Only Way Is Up

X-Blades website goes live

SouthPeak Games has announced that the official website for X-Blades is now live. As a hack-and-slash masterpiece with a captivating Anime style, X-Blades will provide breathtaking combat scenes and truly fantastic worlds. Its official website will serve as an ideal source for information on both the game’s features and its final stages of development.

X-Blades stars Ayumi, a dynamic young female relic hunter in search of a mysterious artifact. Relying solely on her fighting skill, pistol blades and mystical abilities, Ayumi must battle against armies of creatures and other fortune-seekers determined to stop her from escaping with the relic alive.

X-Blades will be gunning its way to shelves on the PC in autumn 2008.

Weighted Companion Cube Plushie

Oh good grief Valve why why why. Like I don't spend enough money on gaming already, you have to go and announce that those cute, nay, gorgeous plushie companion cubes are back in stock! Damn you Vital Apparatus Vent for delivering more damn youuuuuu.

Ahem... Well seriously, who hasn't played Portal and thought they wanted, nay, NEEDED their very own companion cube. Well now you can. The 6 inch by 6 inch cuddly cube will cost you thirty bucks USD and will no doubt sell out faster than GLaDOS will lie to your face, so be quick. Check them out HERE.

Guitar Hero on Tour for DS

OK so I was thinking Guitar Hero on the DS was going to be pretty lame, after all the fun of Guitar Hero is of course the big colored buttons on the little toy guitar! Fear not handheld fans your day for big colored buttons is at hand thanks to Guitar Hero on Tour for the Nintendo DS.

German games site N.Zone has given us the first glimpse of the very funky Guitar Hero on Tour for DS and its cool controller--that clips into the DS expansion port by the looks of things. Images after the jump, then tell us how desperate you are to get your hands on this baby, we know we are.

UPDATE: GameTrailers has the teaser trailer up for this title. Cool thing is it's advertising aimed at guys and girls--makes a nice change to see a chick playing a video game on a game advert. You can see how the device works also. Very cool.

You can catch it HERE.

Via [N.Zone]

Doodle Hex for Nintendo DS

Must be in one of those can’t resist cute game moods today since Doodle Hex totally grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. As far as female characters go Fey the goth from Camden, London is pretty cool with her pet goth rabbit Mort.

Tragnarion Studios has announced Doodle Hex will be coming out on the DS and they’re also working on a Wii version. This title is perfectly suited to both since it utilizes the idea of drawing hex shapes (runes) to cast spells. Doodle Hex releases in June for DS. You can check out more at the official Doodle Hex site.

Moon for Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS isn't generally renowned for hard hitting, adult theme, psychological gaming, but developer Renegade Kid seem to think it's the perfect platform. They previously made Dementium the Ward for the DS, a title that gained an 'M' rating. Now Renegade Kid are back with another outing on DS, this one titled 'Moon'.

Moon previously had the working title 'Project M' and is a sci-fi, action-adventure on DS. Moon places gamers on the cold lunar surface in the year 2058. Researchers are shocked to find a sealed, alien hatch during construction of a new lunar base, but it’s a shock that soon pales in comparison to what they find beyond the hatch. Sounds a little like LOST, damn those hatches. Moon has no release dates as yet, but we'll let you know when they hit.

Spy Hunter Pontiac advert

Remember Spy Hunter, the cool arcade game released by Bally Midway back in 1983, then ported to all and sundry in the following years? It was an awesome game in which you drove a car vertically up the screen, blew baddies up, protected civilian vehicles and now and again turned into a boat.

It seems someone at the Pontiac advertising firm really has a soft spot for Spy Hunter, given the new advert for the Pontiac G8 GT. If you like cars, watch this ad, if you enjoyed Spy Hunter watch this ad, actually you know what.. just watch the damn ad, it's cool.

Upcoming Games we think look cool

Xbox 360 or PS3
Whatever your preference the following titles are mostly out on both formats, in some cases other formats too, but we're just going to look at the two big girls in this instance.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2
As shooters go Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas is a lot of fun. If you've never had the joy of taking this title online with friends, you really should, or better still, get this new version. They've spruced things up here and added funky things like silencers into the mix. If you're looking for a top shooter, generally the Tom Clancy moniker is one to look out for. [Also out on PC for you PC gamers].

Condemned 2
If you picked up an Xbox 360 at launch, you may well have found a copy of Condemned on your launch purchasing list (it was on mine). This creepy psychological thriller was pretty cool and featured nice graphics, fairly gripping story and some good characterization. Condemned 2 is said to have all of that and more. Assuming it's moved along technically, this is one to watch. It's out on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Grand Theft Auto IV
I'm personally a little over this whole GTA thing, but if like a kazillion other gamers out there this is your cup of tea, you're not going to want to go past this one. GTA IV releases April 29 and is set to bust sales records. GTA IV focuses on the character of Nikolai 'Niko' Bellic, an Eastern European who's arrives in Liberty City (loosely based on NYC / New Jersey) in search of the American Dream and his cousin Roman. Of course being GTA it isn't all picket fences and poppies, Niko gets pulled into his cousins problems... cue the baseball bats, guns, hookers and blood money.

LittleBigPlanet
This is a PS3 exclusive title and one we're really excited about. Here's hoping Sackboy and co can pull this off! LittleBigPlanet is essentially a mix of platformer and world building. By jumping, pushing, grabbing, running and flying you'll be able to move about the world solving puzzles and making environments. The cool thing about LittleBigPlanet is the ability to share "patches" )environemts you create) with other players around the globe. As well as this cool feature everything is also highly customizable. It sounds awesome, here's hoping it is.

SEGA Superstars Tennis
Alrighty so this is out on every format under the sun (360, PS3, PS2, Wii and DS) and rightly so. If this is half as much fun as it looks this is going to be a cracker! Featuring memorable SEGA characters including Sonic The Hedgehog, AiAi from Super Monkey Ball fame, Ulala of Space Channel 5 and Amigo from Samba De Amigo, this is going to be some mad arcade tennis. Assuming the ball physics are well done, this is a must have title and on almost all formats, anyone can get it.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
This is out on every format (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, PS2) so everyone will be happy. If you've ever fancied playing Darth Vader's "secret apprentice" then this is your opportunity. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed features new gameplay mechanics that will let wood break like wood, glass shatter like glass, plants on the planet Felucia bend like plants on the planet Felucia would-apparently. All the cool physics stuff aside this is a Star Wars game that looks really cool, that's all you need to know, but if you're still not sure, check out this trailer.

Nintendo Wii
No More Heroes
This looks awesome. The game has been out in the US for some time now and has garnered fairly good reviews. You play Travis Touchdown, an anime fan who finds himself at the bottom of an Assassins' organization. Travis will have to prove himself worthy and defeat 10 other bloodthirsty killers - all with deep stories of their own - to make his way to the top of the assassins league. It was made by the folks behind weird GameCube title Killer7 and more recently DS title Contact (which we didn't like, but there you go).

Puzzle Quest
If you missed this on the DS and XBLA, it's also made its way to the Wii (in the US already) and it's a lot of fun. Essentially a puzzle game mixed with fantasy RPG elements. The cool news for PS2 owners is that it's also making its way to the PS2 (and is long out on the PSP). If you're looking for some addictive puzzle fun, check this one out.

SEGA Bass Fishing
Yes! It's the Dreamcast classic making it's way to the Nintendo Wii. If you haven't played SEGA Bass Fishing the premise is fairly simple, you try and catch fish with various lures etc. What set SEGA Bass Fishing aside was the cool fishing rod controller you could play it with on the Dreamcast and the Wii is no different. SEGA Bass Fishing Wii comes boxed with a funky fishing rod accessory that you clip your WiiMote and Nunchuk into. Awesomeness.

The House of the Dead Compilation
Another Dreamcast classic reborn on the Wii and with the Wii Zapper in hand, this should be a hoot. House of the Dead is essentially a light gun game with zombies and monsters. Great in single player and even better in co-op, you might want to purchase an additional Wii Zapper for this one. It also features the Wii exclusive 'Extreme Mode', opened after beating the game and brings a new level of intensity to the game.

Secret Files Tunguska
Not a huge seller when it previously released on the PC back in 2006, but we're including it because it's a point and click adventure and we think [hope] this style of game will work really well on the Nintendo Wii. Secret Files Tunguska is a third person title set around the mystery of the Tunguska Event of 1908 (you've probably seen images of the trees laying flat, like a nuclear explosion had happened, but is now thought to be a meteoroid / comet air blast). The other reason we like this is the lead protagonist is female, which makes a nice change. It's also releasing on the DS.

Mario Kart and Wii Wheel
Of course Mario Kart has to be on the list. With the news that you'll be able to use any control method you like, Mario Kart is sounding better than when it was originally touted as just using that dang wheel it comes with. Mario Kart Wii is one highly anticipated title and if you've got a Wii you're going to want this. The release date for Mario Kart Wii was just announced as being April 10 Japan, April 11 EU, April 24 Australia and April 27 USA. Shocking, Nintendo releasing something in the USA last, wonders never cease.

Handheld Gaming - PSP and DS
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Not a big fan of the PSP, sure I have one, but I never use it. Of course all that might change when I get Patapon, but I digress. We covered God of War: Chains of Olympus some time ago and fairly negatively given the immaturity level of the 'sex scene' we'd spotted. That silly addition aside though, this title is getting great reviews and if you were a fan of the God of War titles on the PS2 and you have a PSP, well there's really no choice but to give this a purchase.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village
In the curious village of St. Mystere, townsfolk speak to each other in riddles, lock their doors with sliding puzzles and hide their secrets within brainteasers. And if that doesn't sound cool enough already, meet Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke (yeah we know, where's the female character) as they try and find hidden treasure, the clues of which are revealed when Baron Augustus Reinhold passes away. You can play a demo level of this game HERE.

Heavy Rain by Quantic Dream

Heavy Rain is a title we're looking forward to here at Girl Gamers Oz because we loved Fahrenheit (aka Indogi Prophecy) which was also made by Quantic Dream. A few new details slipped out about Heavy Rain recently, so we thought we'd share them with you.

Like Fahrenheit before it, Heavy Rain will focus on moral choices, but choices that will blur what may be bad or good. The story will focus on four characters:

"Heavy Rain is about normal people that have landed in extraordinary situations. I wanted a much more personal story. The first thing that came to my mind, as a father of two little boys, was that the main theme should simply be a father's love for his son. This is not a game about saving the princess or the world. It's purely about a father's love."

Fahrenheit was awesome at the in depth emotional connection between gamer and game, here's hoping Heavy rain has some of that same magic and perhaps someone with Carla Valenti's style.

On the off chance you missed it, here's some tech demo footage of Heavy Rain.

Borderlands female characters

We've had Take Two Interactive and Gearbox Software title Borderlands on our radars for awhile now, with regards to being 'One To Watch', well now it seems you'll have to watch it next year. Yes Borderlands has slipped into 2009, with "additional development" being blamed for the slipage.

On the upside we contacted Gearbox about the female content of Borderlands and this is what they had to say "Borderlands will feature female characters prominently as key playable characters." So there you have it, female characters and more importantly playable ones at that. Also note the plurality of characters and not character. So, some bad news and some good news.

Mass Effect sexuality in games on MTV

The multiplayer blog over at MTV has an interesting little interview with Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk from BioWare and they pretty much cover just why they think sexuality / romantic relationships are important in games. Needless to say it comes down to common sense, these things are part of life, so why shouldn’t they appear in mature story led games.

Sadly some of you may not be able to see the video (Canada, UK and Japan), but the upshot of it is that games are an art form, just as books, TV and film are. All of which at some point suffered disapproving looks and ‘inappropriate’ commentary.

Oh and they also say the word ‘appropriate’ a whole lot, like maybe the guy doth protest too much. That said they do make a great point with the suggestion it’s better to actually connect to a character than have it just be there for titillation.

The World Ends With You DS

Ee thought this title looked pretty interesting, so we thought you might too. What we have here is The World Ends With You, a quirky DS RPG by Square Enix, due out in Europe and the US next month (April 18 and 22 respectively). Released last year in Japan titled Subarashiki Kono Sekai (It's a Wonderful World), the game is finally set to get its English language release.

We thought this looked a little like Jet Grind Radio (Jet Set Radio), the funky futuristic graffiti title on the Dreamcast, Xbox. You can check out the trailer below and see what you think.

Aliens Colonial Marines - Female Marines?

You may or may not be aware that GearBox Software is presently beavering away at an upcoming shooter title based on the Alien franchise. SEGA will be publishing the title at the end of this year (if it doesn't slip) under the name Aliens: Colonial Marines, for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Aliens: Colonial Marines will feature a squad based FPS dynamic where you control 4 members of a marine squad (think Hicks, Hudson etc). We've looked into this with the obvious question of female marines, given the Aliens film had a few, including Vasquez (seen above), Ferro (the cool pilot) and Dietrich (the medic). We're hoping GearBox will get back to us with the goods because we're quite excited at the thought of this title, but that would go into overdrive if they actually include a few female marines in the mix, as is only fair and smart.

Dexter the video game

Yes, apparently everyone's favorite serial killer--Dexter--is heading to next gen gaming systems. There's little in the way of concrete information other than Mark Ecko is involved (he was previously involved in Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure for PS2 and Xbox). Mark Ecko Entertainment are developing the Dexter game.

What are people's thoughts on this? We realize TV / Movie to game crossovers are generally not that great, but this does have something promising. It would be interesting to play a serial killer who offs other serial killers and has to hide his tracks, certainly beats the usual killing for killings sake that many games go with.

Dual Love - Weird girl gaming

Every now and again a game comes along that truly has you scratching your head and say "huh?'. Duel Love is one such game. It's actually targeted at a straight female audience, with the idea being you wipe sweat of lithe young male bodies, you massage them and generally converse / interact with them. It's made by a female producer and falls into the Japanese "dating game" genre.

Now you take a look at the following trailer and see what you think, because we think it's pretty lame on so many levels and we can't really see where the draw would be, well asidefrom young teen giggly girls maybe...