Just come back earlier this evening from game's annual managers conference, thought i'd post some of the stuff i saw there, well the stuff that impressed me anyway
Perfect Dark Zero running on final dev-kit 360 - posted brief impressions here
Pro Evo 5 PSP - had a match against one of the other managers, was very impressed with it, though i'm not very good sadly. good controls and graphics, but was only allowed 10 minutes play as we were split into groups and ushered from booth to booth too quickly.
Sonic on DS - Old school sonic split across 2 screens, very fast and a bit disorientating moving quickly between the 2 screens but once i was used to it it was fine, played the first 2 levels then the boss, on the boss battle it was still 2d movement on screen but the boss and sonic himself were done in 3d and it worked very well, had a lot of fun with it and then the battery died, i was playing on the only DS not connected to a charger - gutted!
Far Cry XB - Didn't get a chance to play it myself as I wasn't quick enough to get to the machine, there was 4 boxes linked together for a 4-player deathmatch and it looked like really good fun, with solid gameplay, nice level design, and some nice weapons thrown in for good measure.
Res Evil 4 PS2 - (just a presentation with the capcom rep playing it in front of us all) Was pleasantly surprised by this one, wasn't expecting it to be enough of a difference from the GC version to warrant buying it again, but I'm gonna now I've seen it. there's a few new weapons but we were only shown 1, The Plagas Remover (something like that), similar in size and held the same way as the mine thrower, a charge up weapon that fires a beam of blue laser through the bad guys. And 5 hours of extra gameplay in the form of an extra set of missions for Ada, which is intertwined with the storyline of the main game ie when leon first enters the village and is attacked by the villagers, Ada is actually there too and helps Leon by ringing the church bell which causes the villagers abandon their attack. You see Leon running around in the background during this bit. This was the only part of the extra gameplay shown to us.
Although they said it was 5hrs extra gameplay, they quoted the main game itself as being 25-30hrs long, and being the RE4 freak that I am, i've managed to complete it on the GC in around 3? hours on expert (proud of that i am) so depending on how good you are it could equate to a lot less playing time, but still worth picking up imo. oh and there'll be a ltd ed. metal cased version a la halo2, doom etc.
Gun XB - again shown played by the rep. Basically Red Dead Revolver but with a more realistic look and feel to it. looks nice and I loved Red Dead so i'll def be keeping my eye on it.
Note - anything from Activision i probably won't have much comment on as the reps were so uninspiring it was unbeleivable, I fell asleep for most of the first presentation cos the guys talking were just so dull.
The Movies - looks pretty interesting, basically a resource management game, was done by activision so again not much else I can say as i was half-asleep.
Nintendogs - Obviously already available and some of you will already have played or own, couldn't help falling in love with those cute little puppy's (of the dog variety
) though. Together with Sonic and bomberman I'm now convinced I need to own a DS. Also see attached 'comedy' thumbnail below 
Ultimate Spiderman - looked quite a fun game to play, with the added aspect of being able to play as Venom, with 'stylised comic book style graphics' (Note to Activision - JUST CALL IT CEL SHADING FOR ****S SAKE!!!). Honestly, the amount of times in the space of 10 minutes that the rep referred to the 'unique comic book style graphics', i wanted to get up and throw something big and heavy at his head! Anyway as I said, despite the uninspiring presentation the game does look like fun to play, with the same structure as Spiderman 2
Everybody's Golf PS2 - I was very impressed with this game, especially since I just don't do golf games (or golf in general), the cutesy graphics were very inviting, the controls nice and easy to get to grips with, and overall my first impressions of it were a definate thumbs up.
Real World Golf - Been selling it instore now for a couple of weeks and hadn't bothered checking it out myself (simply couldn't be arsed with the hassle of putting it back in the box after having a go), anyway had a littlle go of it today and quite liked it, the gametrak motion sensor thingy works surprisingly well and I found myself getting a par for the course (3) on my very first go (beginners luck), I think i'm slowly converting into a golf fan. Not sure if/when the novelty of the gametrak will wear off but i can see it lasting a fair while, and good for playing if you've got your mates round.
The Matrix: Path of Neo - Looks very nice indeed, but I really can't tell what it'll be like to play but i'm keeping my fingers crossed. Something that might be worth noting though, the reps went on about how great enter the matrix was for them and how it sold x amount of copies, but did not acknowledge just how crap it was, make of that what you will.
I'm very tired right now so i'll start to wrap things up, there was some others I wanted to mention but can't quite rember so will add to it later.
Oh and I managed to squeeze out of the EA rep the launch date for 360 (i know its the worst kept secret but this is pretty much an official date);
While presenting us with footage of Need for Speed Most Wanted they told us the release date for that is Nov 25th. I noted it down and asked at the end if it was going to be a launch title and my answer was: "Yes, although with embargo's we cannot disclose any info we have regarding the date of the xbox360 launch"
Schoolboy error on their part.
Regards.
Kev.
Perfect Dark Zero running on final dev-kit 360 - posted brief impressions here
Pro Evo 5 PSP - had a match against one of the other managers, was very impressed with it, though i'm not very good sadly. good controls and graphics, but was only allowed 10 minutes play as we were split into groups and ushered from booth to booth too quickly.
Sonic on DS - Old school sonic split across 2 screens, very fast and a bit disorientating moving quickly between the 2 screens but once i was used to it it was fine, played the first 2 levels then the boss, on the boss battle it was still 2d movement on screen but the boss and sonic himself were done in 3d and it worked very well, had a lot of fun with it and then the battery died, i was playing on the only DS not connected to a charger - gutted!
Far Cry XB - Didn't get a chance to play it myself as I wasn't quick enough to get to the machine, there was 4 boxes linked together for a 4-player deathmatch and it looked like really good fun, with solid gameplay, nice level design, and some nice weapons thrown in for good measure.
Res Evil 4 PS2 - (just a presentation with the capcom rep playing it in front of us all) Was pleasantly surprised by this one, wasn't expecting it to be enough of a difference from the GC version to warrant buying it again, but I'm gonna now I've seen it. there's a few new weapons but we were only shown 1, The Plagas Remover (something like that), similar in size and held the same way as the mine thrower, a charge up weapon that fires a beam of blue laser through the bad guys. And 5 hours of extra gameplay in the form of an extra set of missions for Ada, which is intertwined with the storyline of the main game ie when leon first enters the village and is attacked by the villagers, Ada is actually there too and helps Leon by ringing the church bell which causes the villagers abandon their attack. You see Leon running around in the background during this bit. This was the only part of the extra gameplay shown to us.
Although they said it was 5hrs extra gameplay, they quoted the main game itself as being 25-30hrs long, and being the RE4 freak that I am, i've managed to complete it on the GC in around 3? hours on expert (proud of that i am) so depending on how good you are it could equate to a lot less playing time, but still worth picking up imo. oh and there'll be a ltd ed. metal cased version a la halo2, doom etc.
Gun XB - again shown played by the rep. Basically Red Dead Revolver but with a more realistic look and feel to it. looks nice and I loved Red Dead so i'll def be keeping my eye on it.
Note - anything from Activision i probably won't have much comment on as the reps were so uninspiring it was unbeleivable, I fell asleep for most of the first presentation cos the guys talking were just so dull.
The Movies - looks pretty interesting, basically a resource management game, was done by activision so again not much else I can say as i was half-asleep.
Nintendogs - Obviously already available and some of you will already have played or own, couldn't help falling in love with those cute little puppy's (of the dog variety


Ultimate Spiderman - looked quite a fun game to play, with the added aspect of being able to play as Venom, with 'stylised comic book style graphics' (Note to Activision - JUST CALL IT CEL SHADING FOR ****S SAKE!!!). Honestly, the amount of times in the space of 10 minutes that the rep referred to the 'unique comic book style graphics', i wanted to get up and throw something big and heavy at his head! Anyway as I said, despite the uninspiring presentation the game does look like fun to play, with the same structure as Spiderman 2
Everybody's Golf PS2 - I was very impressed with this game, especially since I just don't do golf games (or golf in general), the cutesy graphics were very inviting, the controls nice and easy to get to grips with, and overall my first impressions of it were a definate thumbs up.
Real World Golf - Been selling it instore now for a couple of weeks and hadn't bothered checking it out myself (simply couldn't be arsed with the hassle of putting it back in the box after having a go), anyway had a littlle go of it today and quite liked it, the gametrak motion sensor thingy works surprisingly well and I found myself getting a par for the course (3) on my very first go (beginners luck), I think i'm slowly converting into a golf fan. Not sure if/when the novelty of the gametrak will wear off but i can see it lasting a fair while, and good for playing if you've got your mates round.
The Matrix: Path of Neo - Looks very nice indeed, but I really can't tell what it'll be like to play but i'm keeping my fingers crossed. Something that might be worth noting though, the reps went on about how great enter the matrix was for them and how it sold x amount of copies, but did not acknowledge just how crap it was, make of that what you will.
I'm very tired right now so i'll start to wrap things up, there was some others I wanted to mention but can't quite rember so will add to it later.
Oh and I managed to squeeze out of the EA rep the launch date for 360 (i know its the worst kept secret but this is pretty much an official date);
While presenting us with footage of Need for Speed Most Wanted they told us the release date for that is Nov 25th. I noted it down and asked at the end if it was going to be a launch title and my answer was: "Yes, although with embargo's we cannot disclose any info we have regarding the date of the xbox360 launch"
Schoolboy error on their part.

Regards.
Kev.
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