Electronic Game Show Returns to Expo Bancomer Santa Fe

New EGS Business Conference Added in August Mexico City – May 26, 2009- After a wildly successful 2008 show, Electronic Game Show will return to Expo Bancomer Santa Fe in Mexico City from Oct. 23 to 25, 2009. Electronic Game Show 2009 will be the eighth year for Latin America’s largest videogame event. In addition to the three-day show in October, this will be the first year for EGS Business, to be held Aug. 26-27. The new business-oriented event is designed to provide publishers and retailers with a conference tailor-made for their business needs. “The tremendous growth of the Latin American videogame market really necessitated the creation of an event just for retailers and publishers,” said Jorge Lizarraga, CEO of the show-organizer company Oelli. “With access to both Electronic Game Show and EGS Business, the Latin American industry will have the networking opportunities and tools it needs to continue pushing into new frontiers.” Key companies including Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, Konami, Activision and THQ have already signed on as exhibitors at this year’s Electronic Game Show. “EGS has been instrumental in the growth of the Mexican videogames industry,” said Erick Baca, Xbox and SDA Marketing Lead. “Microsoft has been a participant of the event since the beginning and we have seen EGS evolve according to the needs of the industry allowing us to reach our business goals and at the same time increase the awareness of the industry in the market” 2008 marked the first year Electronic Game Show was held at Expo Bancomer Santa Fe, located in Mexico City’s most important business district. The move to the new location, prompted by rapid expansion in the Latin American videogame industry, allowed for a larger exhibition floor than previous years, as well as expanded activities. More than 26,000 consumers and journalists in attendance last year had the opportunity to explore a number of high-profile pre-release titles including Gears of War 2, Little Big Planet, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Pro Evolution Soccer 2009. For more information about Electronic Game Show or EGS Business, please visit http://www.electronicgameshow.com.

About Electronic Game Show Electronic Game Show has become one of the largest and most influential events in the digital-entertainment industry. EGS is now the largest videogame event in Latin America. Consumers and journalists at EGS see the newest and best in videogames, consumer electronics, digital entertainment and more.

E3NEWS: A lot of E3 2009 information coming….

I do not have any one direction for posting my E3 press releases, videos and/or audio.
So from today until E3 is over I will be posting smaller and more frequent posts.
Just like the last posts with video game trailers. I will credit all source credits for all of my E3 News. I will try my hardest to get any video I find or receive.
Happy Gaming and sit tight.

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride Review

Playstation 3 and HULU video streaming

1st video post. Visit The Social Gamer on Blip.tv

Legacy of Ys: Book I & II

The time is drawing near. Legacy of Ys: Book I & II will be released in just under two weeks and the anticipation for this game is getting…continue

The Social Gamer Youtube channel

Yeah rejoice…! The Social gamer now has a Youtube Channel. Stop on by and subscribe. More video game trailers in HD not that low res crap. I have new HD converting software. Just need to get used to all of the options with the new software but everything should be in order very soon. Peace

Visit the channel

New DLC for COD: World at War

The team has been very quiet regarding details of our DLC until now, and we’re so excited to let this content loose. DLC Map Pack #1 is due out in March of ‘09 for the (read on)

EA Playstation HOME space

I haven’t spent as much time with in HOME like other gamers that only own a PS3. Just feels a bit stale at the moment. I do like the potential that HOME will offer but in it’s current state..(read on)

Finally added E-Mail subscription

We have been looking around the web on directions for setting up a RSS feed for The Social Gamer blog. We were able to get the code for E-Mail subscribing. So now you can sign up for future updates via your E-Mail address. (read on)

SONY in denial of PS3’s failing sales numbers? I

I swear SONY will never admit that the PS3 is a failure regardless of loosing billions and even if it’s by 100,000 or over 1 million unites sold projected sales number. sad sad company..! (continue -> video)

Square Enix title releases

This month has a few Square-Enix titles coming out for multiple consoles from the PS3 to the Nintendo DS…check out the titles.

Arcade: R-Type Dimensions

I thought this was going to be a completely different story for the R-Type series. Once the download was available on Xbox Live Marketplace I was wrong.?
I am still very delighted that the game is a full on port and remake of the original R-Type and R-Type II classic arcade games. For a whopping 1200 Microsoft points you get a lot.
First off you get two full games, so that alone makes it worth the 600 MSP per game.
Secondly you not only get the classic 2D sprite version(s) but you also get the fully remastered 3D versions of the game(s).
I was having a tough time getting the 2D version onto the full screen because the visual options are deep? LoL

I do need to point out this small but totally new feature that this arcade title offers that I have never seen before, and it’s the fact that you can literally switch between 2D and 3D on the fly in real time with the press of the Y Button…..!  Yes you heard me right if you feel 2D play it in 2D not a problem. But if you all of a sudden feel like going full on 3D then tap Y Button and boom right then your playing in 3D. So Cool…!
You get to choose 2D full screen or wide screen, 2D with in a fully rendered 3D Arcade Machine. The 3D arcade machines controller stick actually moves to the same movement of the Xbox controller. Now remember I am still talking about the 2D graphics setting (3D arcade with a 2D screen on it for gaming) it’s quite amazing.

Now for the 3D settings. The entire game is rendered in 3D and the backgrounds really pop out giving you the seance of a new game and not just a rehash or port. Select normal camera mode for these settings. The second mode for 3D is just mind blowing (of course these are my opinions so please judge for your self with the demo). You select 3D mode and the crazy camera settings for a full on rotating from foreground to background 3D renders. Sounds crazy and in my opinion it is crazy, in a good way.

Thanks for visiting now go get the Trial already and see for your self.

Add the trial to your XBOX 360 download queue now.

Marketplace information:

The coin-op classics, R-Type & R-Type II, are together at last! Fight through all 14 Bydo-infested stages in original 2D or all-new 3D graphics – and swap back and forth on-the-fly. Both Classic and Infinite modes can be played as single player or multiplayer missions; either locally or over Xbox LIVE. Power up and strike down the evil Bydo Empire!! This game requires the Xbox 360 hard drive or the 512MB Memory Unit for storage. There are no refunds for this item.

Grand Opening of Gamestop Flagship store.

Today was a horrible and and the same time it was grand..!

Today we are having one of the worst snow storms this season, IMO.  I guess that is the worst part of it..LoL

Now for the GRAND part of this post. Today was the Grand opening of the Cranston, RI Gamestop Flagship retail store. The store is normally packed to gills with customers but the storm was freaking bad, I was even scared to leave the store since I had to drive about a half hour and with the snow storm it was more like 45 minutes or so. But for the sake of getting these photos out to all of my Twitter followers. I had planned to live Tweet the photos from my iPhone but I thought it would be easier for me to take the photos first then get home and update the blog.

I won’t write much more on this post as I have added captions to all of the photos them selves. I hope you enjoy these pictures, I took them with my iPhone and the Darkroom App.  So without further a do here they are.

Well there ya have it. I probably could have taken more but the customers and staff were looking at me funny. LoL

I don’t know if you’ve ever shopped at a Flagship Gamestop before but from my point of view and from buying games from the company for more years than I can remember, it’s the best experience I have ever had in a Gamestop store. The whole mood and environment was really fun.

I actually wanted to stay longer but the winter storm was telling me to get home before it was to late. LoL

Talk to you all soon,

Introducing the Crew of SxAxW

I have been on Xbox Live for many years now and from playing with plenty of strangers and gaming with random people across different types of games I have found a cool bunch of gamers that started gaming together all the time.

From the first crew members Ghost, Balz, and Matyr that decided to add a name to the crew (not a Clan), has now grown over time and as we get bigger and more rounded team the invited to join are starting to get harder if someone want to join in on our gaming habbits.

In my opinion I get along with everyone, but that being said it’s also becoming like a virtual gaming family were brothers argue from time to time but after a few games everyoe is happy again. LoL

Here is the list of the current active crew members on m list. There are a few more not listed here but it’s onl because they haven’t been online for a while and haven’t updated to an avatar as of yet. Now the list….

Here are the SxAxW Creators.

Ghost SxAxW

Balz SxAxW

Matyr SxAxW

Here is the rest of the Crew:

JorgieX SxAxW

Gurx SxAxW

J0k3r SxAxW

lil Ghost SxAxW

Limb SxAxW

Manolo SxAxW

Phantom SxAxW

Shadow SxAxW

SlayerX SxAxW

Unknown SxAxW

Violent SxAxW

Wiz SxAxW

So there you have it the people I most play online team battles with. Like I mentioned above there are a few more SxAxW members so I will add them once I touch base with the crew.

So who do you game with often? Do you think you should belong to a crew, clan or guild when you go online? Do you like to run solo and just get the help of a stranger and then part ways forver?  I thought I was doomed to travel XBL alone forever until the members of SxAxW excepted me into the ranks.

One of this generations Great JRPGs

Well let me begin with what a JRPG is for those that don’t know. In simple terms it’s the abbreviation for the words Japanese Role Playing Game. Simple right? Just click on the link above for the Wiki detailed information of JRPG(s).

I have been into these types of game for dare I say around 20 years. I have played imported jrpg(s) with complete printed out translation scripts, now that’s a geek if can say so…and I can. LoL

To get to the point of the title the game in reference I am referring to is Lost Odyssey on the Xbox 360. To begin with if you have ever played any of the Final Fantasy series games then you gave a perfect idea of what this game is like in both presentation, battle system, and story progression. Lost Odyssey was produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the famed Final Fantasy series.

Lost Odyssey uses a traditional turn-based battle system seen in most Japanese role-playing games, similar to early Final Fantasy iterations. There are two types of characters that the player controls. “Mortals” gain skills by leveling up, but can benefit from additional skills by equipping accessories. “Immortals” do not know any skills initially, but instead gain skills by “linking” with a mortal character that is currently part of the battle formation, earning skill points in battle towards complete learning of the skill. Immortals can also learn skills from accessories by equipping them in the same manner, much like in Final Fantasy IX. Once a skill is learned, the player can then assign these skills to a limited number of skill slots, initially starting at three but able to be expanded via “Slot Seed” items or skills. Immortals also have the ability to auto-revive in battle should they lose all their hit points.

Lost Odyssey is set in a world in which a “Magic-Industrial Revolution” is taking place. While magic energy existed in all living creatures beforehand, it suddenly became far more powerful thirty years before the beginning of the game. Because of this, it has affected society greatly, with devices called “Magic Engines” harnessing this power for lighting, automobiles, communication, and biological augmentation of monsters. However, such progress has also caused two nations; the kingdom of Gohtza, and the Republic of Uhra, recently changed from a monarchical society; to develop new and more powerful weapons of mass destruction. A third nation, the Free Ocean State of Numara, has remained neutral, though it is falling into disarray.

To make thing easier on your self I recommend taking your time through the story exploring every nook and cranny of the environments. Talking to everyone and walking into certain areas will trigger a memory. Memory sequences were penned by an award-winning Japanese short story writer, Kiyoshi Shigematsu, who worked directly with the game’s producer Hironobu Sakaguchi on Kaim’s backstory, while Sakaguchi alone wrote the game’s main story.

I remember one part that I won’t mention that actually almost made me want to cry..well my eyes had something in them so they got watery..LoL The game spans 4 DVDs do to allot of CG and in game engine cut scenes and even blend the transition from CG to actual game play so smoothly that you don’t even know that the game is back to actual game play. Just breath taking in my honest opinion. This game would of sold more if it were called Final Fantasy because take it from me when i tell you this is a Final Fantasy game in disguise. The game’s graphics and high production values were some of the best seen on the XBOX 360, and long load times and frame rate issues that most gamers complained about are now nearly null and void after the NXE update to allow for full installs of your games onto the 360 HDD. Warning though if you plan on installing all of the disks at one time it will take about 5 minutes for each disk with an average size of 5 – 6GB of space needed for each disk. But for people with the 20GB HDD need not worry just install the disk that you are on and un-install that disk once you change disks and then install the next one. You will not change or damage any of the saved progression.  Loading from the HDD is more than 2x as fast as disk loading. So install it if at all possible.

OK, so now I am at the end of the story and by the end of the game you will be able to fly and control a hybrid Jet/Speedboat/Sub Marine to go from place to place and even able to dock it into a huge ship and then you can control the huge ship to travel great distances on the world map. Very Final Fantasy-ish.. LoL

This is the Lost Odyssey Theme song:

I hope you enjoyed this Lost Odyssey brief and if you love classic style JRPG(s) and you own a n Xbox 360 you owe it to your self to have this game in your collection.

Leave a comment on your thoughts. This was one of those games that was split down the middle as far as reviews go. But as you can tell by now I love the game. I am hoping the when Final Fantasy XIII come out later this year or maybe even in early 2010..LoL I will get the same if not more of this style of role playing game.

The Social gamer