It’s not a huge secret; I’m a big Metal Gear Solid fan. Unfortunately I’m not a big Sony fan (or in other words, not a big spend-£425-on-a-console fan) so despite my seething bitterness at not being able to play Metal Gear Solid 4, It’s still pretty to look at. Here’s the trailer from the recent Tokyo Games Show:

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However, I am happy about being given a reason to dust off my PSP; That reason being Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Due for a late 2006/early 2007 release, with squad based gameplay and full voice acting from David Hayter and the gang, MGS: PO takes over from where MGS: 3 left off, with more exploits from Solid Snake’s daddy, Big Boss. Here’s the new trailer, again from TGS:

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Yup, it’s been a busy week for the 360. Among the bunch of new trailers uploaded to the Marketplace recently, Halo Wars and Banjo-Kazooie 3 stand out.

All that’s really known about Halo Wars is that it’s an RTS set in the Halo universe. At the moment it’s only been announced for the 360, so fingers crossed it’ll feel less awkward than LOTR: BFME 2. Feast your eyes on the stunning (pre-rendered) trailer.

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But probably more important is the Banjo Kazooie trailer. Apart from the pretty poor handheld games, nothing’s been seen of the bear-and-bird duo since their two classics on the N64. I just hope it doesn’t follow the fate of Perfect Dark:Zero (amazing original, less-than-great 360 game), and it kind of pains me to see it on a non-Nintendo console.

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Microsoft has revealed the price and date of the Zune, the new portable music player.

It would appear that the price tag of $249.99 (£132) would tempt consumers away from Apple and the extremely popular iPod. But for each Zune sold, Microsoft will lose money on it…

The device will be launched initially in the US market on November 14th. As for purchasing tracks via the online store - Zune Marketplace - it will cost 99 cents or 79 Microsoft points.

In addition, there is a range of accessories for the Zune available to buy on launch day. These are:

• Zune Home A/V Pack ($100 - dock, remote, AV cables, extra battery, sync cable, adapter)
• Zune Travel Pack ($100 - Dual Connect remote, premium headphones, bag, cable, and adapter)
• Zune Car Pack ($80 - FM tuner, car charger)
• AV cable ($20)
• AC adapter ($30)
• Sync cable ($20)
• Car charger ($24)
• Dock (with AV output, but no AV cable for $40)
• Wireless remote (for control of Zune dock, $30)
• Dual Connect remote (for inline control and splitting the audio out for two people, $30)
• Zune FM Tuner (with autoseek, which finds the optimal radio station and, at $70),
• Gear bag (contains all these expensive accessories, itself $30)
• Premium earphones (sound isolating canal phones for $40)

The Zune will also feature a various amount of preloaded content from such bands as CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy), Band of Horses, The Rakes, The Thermals, etc. Plus videos from Serena-Maneesh and The Fruit Bats.

Microsoft is planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of the next several years in a bid to catch Apple’s iPod. Good luck to them.

Lord Of The Rings and King Kong director Peter Jackson has signed a deal with Microsoft to create what he describes as a “new form of interactive entertainment”.

The Oscar and BAFTA winning filmmaker said he would be creating a series of video games based on the Halo franchise, which was originally created by Bungie Studios.

“I’m getting a little bored with films,” he said.

The series will appear on the Xbox 360 games console and Xbox Live.

Jackson, who is also producing a movie based on Halo, said: “More and more I’m looking forward to the release of games and not movies. I am more aware and excited about games.

“I do not have to keep delivering stories as movies – there are other things I can do.

“Technology is at a point where we can blend a lot of film storytelling with interactive entertainment.”

He added that the series would be aimed toward casual gamers.

The announcement was made at the X06 conference in Barcelona, at which Microsoft unveiled its line-up of games for the next coming months.

Xbox boss Peter Moore also unveiled a HD-DVD (High Definition DVD player), for the console, which will be released in Europe in mid-November, costing €199 or £129.

Microsoft also reveal a further Halo spin-off, called ‘Halo Wars’, a real time strategy game based on the popular first person shooter to be made by Ensemble Studios.

Jackson will set up an interactive arm of his firm, Wingnut, and will work with Halo creators Bungie Studios to develop the series.

He admitted his team was at the start of the process and still had to “work out how to do it”.

Jackson added: “Gaming could be a form of entertainment that you could enjoy with the emotion of film, but you could also be interactive.”

The filmmaker said that he had chosen the Halo universe as the first series because it was an “amazing world”.

“We put the best platform in the hands of the best story-tellers,” said Mr Moore.

Peter Moore stressed that this did not mean that Peter Jackson was making Halo 4 or any sequels to Bungie’s current game in development.

At the X06 conference in Barcelona, Redoctane and Activision have announced that Guitar Hero II will be available for Xbox 360.

The president of Redoctane is quoted in the press release stating: “The tour will continue the rockin’ gameplay Guitar Hero fans have come to enjoy, and will now include expanded Xbox 360 capabilities. With Guitar Hero II for Xbox 360 rock rhythm, lead, or bass guitar tracks with downloadable content and the new X-Plorer controller, designed specifically for the Xbox 360.”

Redoctane also mentioned that the large capacity Hard Drive on the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Marketplace can creates endless possibilities for downloadable content (perhaps new songs to rock with?).

No news whether a new wireless guitar will be on offer. Nevertheless, the opportunity to play this awesome rhythm game on the Xbox is a dream come true for rock fans!

• Information:
• Title: (Infernal Affairs II or Mou Gaan Dou II)
• Certificate: (15)
• Released by: (Tartan Video’s Tartan Asia Extreme Label)
• Run Time: (114 minutes)
• Origin: (Hong Kong)
• Language: (Cantonese)
• Vintage: (2003)

Set between the years of 1991 and 1997, Infernal Affairs two begins ten years before the events of Infernal Affairs and tells the story of how the young Yan (Shawn Yue) and Ming (Edison Chen) got involved in their dangerous lives as a police stooge and a triad mole.

The Story begins with Inspector Wong (Anthony Wong) and Sam (Eric Tsang) behaving like the best of friends in a police station. Yan is embroiled in the family saga of a triad cartel inextricably liked with his origins and which he wants to get away from. Meanwhile Ming deals with his obsession with boss Sam’s Wife, Mary. (Ploy courtesy of Tartan Video’s DVD Release plus multiple changes)

The film is directed by Andrew Lau (Chow lok yuen) and Alan Mak (Yuen mong shu) and stars Edison Chen (Tau man ji D or Initial D), Shawn Yue (Gong Wu), Anthony Wong (Jing mo gaa ting), Eric Tsang (Daai Cheung foo) and Francis Ng (hak bak sam lam) as Lau Kin Ming, Chen Wing Yan, Inspector Wong, Boss Sam and Ngai Wing Hau respectively.

Infernal Affairs two is in essence a prequel to the 2002 smash hit that everyone loves, it was nominated for a total of fourteen awards or which it only won three. Those Awards included a win at the Hong Kong Critics society awards for best film and a win at the Hong Kong Film Awards for the best original film song along with 11 more nominations that didn’t come good. (This is an indication as to the originality of the film)

I went into this film thinking “Ohh! Great, another sequel”, But then I found out it was a prequel and not a sequel so I readjusted my thoughts mainly because when done right a prequel can beat any sequel cold out of those icy sea’s. I got going and started watching it with what was now a clean slate when it comes to opinion and found myself viewing a film that on it’s own would have had so much charisma it could have taken the world by storm, but instead I found myself fixated on the very fact that some of the details clearly contradict the original Infernal Affairs. An example of this lack of attention was the very fact that in the first film Keung is said to have worked for Sam for the last five years yet in this film he is still working for Sam but only two or so years too early.

As much as these contradiction annoy me I found the film to be enjoyable and a good distraction for the duration, I can’t possible think of giving it a rating as high as the original for the very fact it’s not as original and for those contradictions. For that reason Infernal Affairs two receives a rating from me of…

Here’s a unique way of selling insurance based on a popular video game.

Travelers Insurance’s new TV advert borrow ideas from Katamari Damacy, showing a ball of stuff bouncing down San Francisco’s hills. You could say Fallon, the ad agency behind the commercial, ripped off Katamari.

I wonder what the King of All Cosmos will say?

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Wipe off that drool young boy as there are new shots of Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball 2. Try saying that after a few pints while dancing to The PussyCat Dolls. As you do :: cough ::

The game expands on the original format by introducing several more mini games such as Jet Ski (inspired by WaveRacer), swimming, balancing and some other oddball games to show off the beautiful bump mapping. Ahem. This should include net play and hopefully a four player mode as the original was restricted for 2 players only for some reason.

It certainly makes a nice change from fighting and blowing things up and I'm sure this game will help shift more units of the XBOX360 in Japan, where even the old Gamecube outsold the next gen console recently.

 

Yes, at last Capcom's popular videogame franchise Devil May Cry will finally become an animé series. Announced by Capcom, Wowow and Madhouse at the Tokyo Games Show 2006, there will be 12 episodes coming in the spring of 2006. Madhouse has a very good track record with handling good animés such as Chobits, NANA, Patlabor, Perfect Blue, X/1999 and various others, including the up and coming Death Note animé.

• Information:
• Title: (Infernal Affairs or Mou gaan dou)
• Certificate: (15)
• Released by: (Tartan video’s Tartan Asia extreme label)
• Run Time: (100 minutes)
• Origin: (Hong Kong)
• Language: (Cantonese)
• Vintage: (2002)

Ming (Andy Lau) and Yan (Tony Leung) lead parallel lives: Ming is a Triad mole in the police department; Yan is a police stooge in mob boss Sam’s (Eric Tsang) Triad gang. Both men have a desire to put their false lives behind them and to take up their rightful places in a society that eludes them.

One night, during a police raid to bring down Sam’s mob empire, the two men’s paths finally cross. Both the police and the mob soon realise that there is a mole amongst them, and a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues. In this race against time nobody is safe, and the lives of everyone involved become threatened. In the meantime, Superintendent Wong (Anthony Wong) does his best to keep Yan’s secret safe, but how long can the men’s hidden lives remain undiscovered? (Plot courtesy of Tartan video’s DVD Release)

Infernal Affairs was co-directed by Andrew Lau (The Storm Riders, The Park) and Alan Mak (Yuen mong shu) and stars Andy Lau (House of flying daggers), Tony Leung (Hero), Eric Tsang (Sat sau ji wong) and Anthony Wong (Kong woo giu gap) as Lau kin Ming, Chan Wing Yan, Sam and superintendent Wong respectively.

Infernal affairs was nominated for forty-one awards of which it won twenty-three including seven at the Hong Kong Film Awards beating out blockbuster Hero for the best picture award. Infernal affairs received much acclaim from critics and films goers alike, which in no doubt brought it to the attention of the western world.

I’ve heard a lot about Infernal affairs from the posts on the eternal sunset forum and had been wanting the watch it for some time, just never got round to it. I watched it at around six in the morning in late august and found myself  hooked and reeled in by it’s power and the fact that it was a gangland film that had the style only supplied by the best of Hong Kong cinema, I watched this emotional epic while the time flied and I was sad when it ended. Not only because of the ending but because of the fact that it was a good film that got me total by surprise, I had been expecting something more in tune with the mountains of kung fu rubbish that Hong Kong is famed for but instead I got a well constructed film with perfect pacing and an interesting story to boot.

Style wise I do take my hat off to the directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak for they did do a job only done by the best of directors. But ultimately while it was a film I’ll never forget and which I do no doubt thing is great I just can’t bring myself to give a full score to a film packed full of stars, I know their not Hollywood stars but I just cannot stand stars. So Unfortunately it only receives a rating of…