That guy's a Maniac...

Yes it’s time for another one off running series feature! Dr Wo 69’s console surgery. With all the hype around at the moment for the new consoles and handhelds it can be easy to think that the future has arrived already! However, as Sony have shown there are many lies abound the internets and many features mentioned in the run ups to launch magically vanish on launch day. So Dr Wo being an actual Doctor and everything is here to answer your questions. Leave any further questions or answers in the comments section and I’ll be sure to update them into the main body of the post. Here we go! Sony Bearing in mind that PS2 i-link port just vanished from the third or fourth-gen PS2s. Will you be able to play Playstation 2 link up games on the PS3? For example Timesplitters 2? No, Because for you to do that would entail packing your PS3 up in a suitcase and lugging it round your mates house and, speaking for myself thats too much effort already. Can you play PSX link up games on the PS3? For e...

As I sit and type I am 3 out of 4 days into the second That Guy's A Maniac Con of 2006 and it was more everything than the first one. RoodyPoo69, Dr Wo 69, Chuff_72, Cunzy1 1 and Wendy 72 took on the world on Gears of War and Mario Kart DS. Right now Gears is being set up for yet another day of fighting. Next Gen is truly here and it became apparent that Sony and Nintendo have a big job on their hands with the Wii and the PS3. With only two DSes and two Xbox 360s the five of us managed to play Wi-fi, wireless, splitscreen co-op, online co-op story mode and fully online almost at the switch of a button. The Ds and Xbox 360 are slick. It is that easy to "jump in". Massive props to *$ophi£*, loco1116, A Pissed Monkey, minging mic, Chuff 72, Pixel princess, Dr Wo 69, Nev569, Oneflyer, Puppet Master, Captain Birdseye, Captain Japseye, Headshot888, Wendy 72, Brutus6, Roody Poo 69, gamensound, hustler 10, stomper 28, DaSmoef, Venom 58, ozzybear, Zachariah 123456, Rickzz01, Na2R...

Yes, dear friends it's AMERICANS. Americans are stupid, which is fine, and even many Americans admit it themselves especially American bloggers. It's not offensive that's just what they are. English people have their quirks too as do the Scots as I am reliably informed by lazy boy Richie. However, of all the offensive things in the world, America is guilty of the top two. Now I promised I wouldn't do this, but as a voice of authority to literally handfuls of people on the world's 1436966th Technorati ranked blog I will use my seat of power to right these wrongs: 1) 2nd most offensive thing of all time. Buying American Football games. Why do you go so retarded after American Football games? As a sports game it's rubbish with more pauses and menu screens than Menu Fighter 4: Pause the Menu Master they are like football games requiring less skill and more patience. Myself and Quadbee played Madden back in the early 90s and we're still stuck on the same ...

Following our research into these two posts we have become aware of the massive tenuous sexism in games. Here’s a brief list, I’m sure you can think of more. When we get enough we’ll get a petition going and then we’ll send it to the European Union Justice Comissioner . I think you’ll agree that this inherent sexism changes the way we all think about games. 1) Half Lives Our hero Dr.Freeman is a silent physicist. What kind of message is this sending you young men? That you can only be a hero if you stay quiet and work in science? Outrageous. 2) Beyond Good and Evil The main heroine is an attractive lady who wears green lipstick. Her sidekick is a male pig. What message is this sending our children? That you can only be a heroine if you are hot and use green make up or that all male sidekicks are pigs? Think of the children. 3) Tomb Raider Lara wears a lot of man clothes with the exception of when she wears a dress to steal something in Tomb Raider 3? and when she is naked in the show...

Now that we are getting properly old it is increasingly hard to find time to play games. Previously we used to divulge in SESSIONs, MISSIONs and the odd HIT would catch us out. These days a daily SKIT would be nice. The day before yesterday I was struck by a HIT and boy did I suffer the next day. Whaddya mean you don’t know what I mean? Cunzy1 1’s International Periods of Gameplay Chart 0.01 minutes-1 hour; A SKIT From the daily tasks of Brain Training, Nintendogs & Animal Crossing or a quick mission on Timesplitters, the Skit is a good way to live your life and keep playing games in the interim. The Skit is the favoured length of play time for casual or busy gamers or those with partners who take ages getting dressed to go out/have a shower/sleep in till 12 on weekends. Between 1hour-4hours; A SESSION Be it a Half Life 2 episode or good old multiplayer Micro Machines, a Session is a good way to spend an evening solo, with friends, lovers, housemates or workmates. Between 4ours-6h...

With Richie ummm predisposed and my (creative) juices running on low after yesterday's excitment we bring you Chuff_72 again. Having been a stalwart commentor, adding more shit to this blog than Richie or I could on a daily basis sometimes the Chuff_meister just has to let it all out. SPEAK Chuff_72. SPEAK in a nearly-not-very exclusive UK Gears of War review. Kinda. Gears of Motherfuckin' War I really really want to go home, fuck work, I want to sit down and play Gears on Xbox Live all day, I've got the itch! I'm just sitting at my desk fidgeting... DAMN IT I NEED A HIT!!! So glad I never played WoW it would probably fuck my life up, I neeeed to shoot some people in the face, stick a chainsaw in someone's gut or shotgun someone's legs off. Last night was completely awesome, the Dr (Ed. Dr.Wo long time Maniac and gamer) and I played for about 5hrs, the last 1hr or so was spent with a bunch of northerners, and we managed to start some banter straight off the bat...

We at Thatguys, being the front and foremost of all games news, have just got word from Mr Nintendo about a new title for the DS. It's a sequel to, the now reaching cult status, Super Princess Peach, we don't have all the details as yet but Mr Nintendo has told us personally that we can publish the information so far, in a Thatguys Exclusive. Super PMS Peach. Due to the success of the "Emotion" system set in place in the original Super Princess Peach, the next logical step was to take Peach's emotions to the next logical step. Super Menstrual Emotion Advanced Routine (S.M.E.A.R.). Super Princess Peach 2: PMS adventure will work in conjunction with the Nintendo DS internal calendar. The Player will be given a chance at the start of the game to set the "Time of the Month" and for one week every 28 days Peach's emotions will be enhanced to scary new heights. She will have enhanced anger and sadness and will be able to decimate all foes in her path (...

Okay, okay, rarely do we get it wrong here at TGAM but back here when I said: "So it's nearly time to say goodbye to the DS because it seems that Nintendo has had enough of Europe again." That was bullshit. Nintendo love Europe it's just Mr.GAME who doesn't want us to be loved by Nintendo so he cunningly tells us that Mr.Nintendo doesn't write to us anymore when secretely Mr.GAME is keeping all the letters in a box. One day when Mr.GAME is out to lunch with Nickelodeon we're going to sneak upstairs and find the letters in that shoe box he has under his bed. Then we will cry tears of joy. Mr.Nintendo did love us all this time* *This sudden change in stance has absolutely nothing to do with the authors discovering FUCKING DINOSAURS in Sonic and The Secret Rings, FF III + FFXII: Revenant Wings for the DS, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles on the Wii or anything like that. We are impartial at all times here. Yes sir.

We here at TGAM aim to give you the best blog service on the internets. Unfortunately, sometimes the internets fights back. You may have noticed that many of the images aren't uploading or appearing. We apologise for this and we'll get our technician on it ASAP. In the meantime if you want to see any of the images then email us at www.hotmail.com and we'll do out best to explain the images in less than 100 words. Apologies dear friends and Foes Cunzy11 & Richie

So we seriously stumbled upon some new serious games review blog site. And apparently it is so serious we had to seriously review it seriously. So we went to the newest and most serious article, which was this serious article on Super Princess Peach. The article seriously depicts some serious issues about the serious title Super Princess Peach, these serious issues include Feminism in games, Masculinism in games, and how certain blogs who perceive themselves as serious, can actually do an obvious article on a game which has been out for months, with perhaps the worst grammar ever seen in the blogsphere (excluding www.thatguys.co.uk) . Note: old news: In case anyone does not know Super Princess Peach is a DS game where Princess Peach takes on the role of the hero to rescue Mario. She makes her way though the levels as usual, and is helped by her emotions, crying raises and lowers the water level in a level etc. Serious games source takes the stand point that Super princess peach is...

In our long running but not very consistently written "That Guy's a Mania" series we have nominated many a maniac, you may remember good ol' Xzin or Brice Mallen . True maniacs both, in their own seperate ways. But now after a 3 month hiatus we bring you November's Maniac of the Month: Isaiah "Triforce" Johnson Not only is New-Yorker Isaiah a maniac because his middle name is "Triforce" but he is one of a number of maniac gamers taking to the streets in order to be the first in line for the new consoles. What makes I."T".J so mad mental? He has been queuing for a week for a Wii (story picked up here by the Beeb). ""I had to get it first," said the 29-year-old, who shook hands with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime after buying the console. " And he got to meet long time Maniac and Dear friend of ours big Reggie sans-amies! Queuing for a week has some serious implications like Urination issues, food i...

Front page of the Times this morning-web version here and an alternative one here . Basically, some EC nobs, bored of trying to save real people have decided to save the children by protecting them from the boringly average Rule of Rose . "Frattini said he been particularly shocked a new psychological horror game, Japanese-designed 'Rule of Rose' for Sony Corp.'s Playstation 2 console. In the game, a young girl, Jennifer, is subjected to mental and physical torture by a gang of sadistic female teenagers, whose ringleader also turns lesbian attentions on the hapless Jennifer before she is buried alive" Well thanks Mr. Frattini for saving the children now where the fuck were you when we had to endure Sherry Birkin getting mauled by zombies, Edwina and Dedwina getting shot in the face or Cheryl getting bound and gagged in the disturbing Silent Hill? Why didn't you protect us from all of these sick Hentai games (thanks again to Something Awful.com)? Huh?...

Wahey! The internets need more images of hawt, yet alternative girlz and MVG is happy to oblige. It's yet another Miss Video Game! picked up by one of our subsidiary sites UK:R And in true UK:Resistance style: Would , Might in a pinch , Wouldn't , Clearly just would , Wouldn't , Wouldn't , Go on then , Would and Would , Wouldn't , Wouldn't , Dude , Wouldn't , Totally , Would , Would , Would at a push , A high chance yeah , Richie would , Would , Richie would twice , Would , Yeah , Would in a year so I don't feel too bad , Go on then cheeky , Yeah, peasent chic , Would , Already did , Wouldn't , Would , Would , Wouldn't , Would , Would , Would , Would NOT , Would lefty not righty , Would more than once , Cheat , Would if she stopped lying about her age , Would if she didn't smile , Ummm yeah OK then , She is actually 8 , Wouldn't , Wouldn't , Wouldn't , Would frequently , Would , Would because she was so methodical about listing h...

So it's nearly time to say goodbye to the DS because it seems that Nintendo has had enough of Europe again. Old film tie-in, Fox tie-in, Warner Bros tie-in, Dreamworks tie-in, SpongeBob Squarepants, Urban GT and a title that should have been out ages ago. So it's time to look back on some of the good things the DS brought us, starting with download play. A majority of DS games have both single cart and multicart download play with rare exception (Resident Evil DS, I'm looking at you) which is cool because two+ mates with 4 games each could play 8 different games and because of the wireless there was no need to keep digging out cables. It meant that with one DS you also have four different ways of playing; single player, single cart multiplayer, multicart multiplayer and Wi-Fi. The interconnectivity stuff that the playstation has failed at (link up PS2 anyone?) and which made the GBA so attractive. The downside is that for some reason, in Europe at least, you never really k...

So as I’m sure we are all aware, World Of Warcraft is a “game” made by a Company called Blizzard. Some of you may or may not know but blizzard also had on the books another game called Starcraft: Ghost . A Third Person Shooter based in the Starcraft Universe, but this was canned a few months ago. It was to be the first real venture for Blizzard on the console market. Now the reason for it being cancelled was never truly apparent, but what’s been plaguing me recently is whether or not Blizzard are even bothered to bring out any other games after WoW, as it’s a constant stream of money for them. Blizzard have an amazing track record for creating games of an outstanding quality Diablo Series, Starcraft and of course Warcraft. All of which score in the high percentile. I think it may be safe to assume that Starcraft ghost was not a very good game, as it kept getting reworked and release dates were pushed, and as such Blizzard were reluctant to release it. So, what happens now? World...

Yeah yeah, multimedia, online, interconnectivity, lifestyle and gaming that's all great but the gamers didn't ask for it. The single most obvious leap for the next gen hasn't been made yet. It's obvious, you don't need market research and you certainly shouldn't be getting told by such a high profile games site as That Guy's a Maniac that's for sure. MORE FRICKIN DINOSAURS!! Yeah more, bigger, shinier, HD dinosaurs What are you waiting for? Coincidentally, does anyone know of any dinosaurs in Xbox 360 games? Does anyone know of any next-gen dinosaurs? IF NOT THEN THAT MEANS THERE ARE ACTUALLY NO NEXT GEN DINOSAURS. Come on guys get in the record books by being the first NEXT GEN DINOSAUR GAME. and I mean real fake dinosaurs not fake fake dinosaurs like Yoshi, Bub or Bob.

Great news every one! There’s a new Resident Evil spin-off game, and guess what its not a pissy Outbreak, Survivor, Gameboy or mobile version! It’s coming out this Friday (17/11/2006). It features a character never seen in officially in the Resident Evil universe and features a fantastic, multi-developer, multi-platform, cross-involvement back-story, here’s a snippet of what we have managed to get of the plot (Warning Spoilers): The main character is Jill valentine’s half Brother, Vincent. Vincent was kidnapped after the events of the first Resident Evil, from the perspective of the Gamecube version. Vincent is captured by Umbrella and is experimented upon. However it turns out Vincent has a very individual genetic make-up which makes him resistant to a variety of strains of T-Virus and G-Virus. Vincent was kept locked up several years but still remained almost immune to all the artificially created Umbrella viruses, such as the V-Virus, Z-Virus R1-Virus. Until they finally hit up...

Well, after several false starts and some setbacks, hitches, spanners in the works and delays the PS3 finally landed over in Japan. Even the bloody Times had a two page spread on next-gen consoles, hilariously giving the PS3 4/5 for hardware and 3/5 for software where as the poor old 360 received 3/5 for hardware and 3/5 for software. We got our PS3 on the weekend and boy oh boy is it mediocre. After one hour Richie managed to crash it and after three hours we ended up playing Micro Maniacs on the PS2 because the multitap doesn't work on the PS3. MotorStorm is alright but the lack of any real games at the moment makes it the most expensive chunk of stuff in the house. Seriously kids wait until something comes out for it. In other news... I got my Brain Age down to 20!-Flying planes in GTA San Andreas voted "hard" by TGAM blogger Cunzy1 1-Next Resident Evil film to be set on Mars and have genetic mutants instead of zombies-Chuff_72's bid to complete PS version ...

I found this image on my hard drive. I still find it funny. Something Awful do a great job on the videogame Photoshop Phridays , make sure you check em regular like.

Hi all! As you may have noticed there are some changes happening to the Thatguys.co.uk website. And since we appreciate the reader, and the reader’s opinions/approval/acceptance of us, as it makes us feel safe/like-the-cool-kids-in-school/horny , we openly are willing to listen (ignore) your suggestions for the site. Please leave a comment in this post, if you don’t then it means you like man-cock. (If the internet reaches everyone, and I don’t get 6.5 billion comments minus the gay population, than that means everyone in the world is gay, It’s a new thatguys record…)

So I recently bought Kingdom hearts 2, and after trying to overcome a few issues I had with abundant cut scenes and lack of fighting, I hit the middle of the game. And therein lies its greatness not only was I presented with some good cutscenes (finally) of par example Cloud and Squall (Leon) back to back fighting thousands of bad guys and having a bit of banter! It also presented me with shit loads of fighting, par example Kill 1000 enemies with out dying (wnak). Admittedly I am now at a bit of a loss as I have to re-visit all of the past worlds, and I fear that the damn game is gonna get annoying again… anyways fingers crossed for some Sephiroth action. Quote from Fanboy#9 Overall I give it 2/10 because I cant get past the Disney characters. P.S. Some Twat didnt like this game...

He woke with a jolt. Boy was that a weird dream; maths, driving in circles, a zombie house. The dreams seemed so vivid, so real. Cunzy1 1 got up from the bed and felt all of his joints click. How long was I asleep? He went downstairs; the TV was showing the highlights of the football match he had seen was on the night before. He turned the TV off and went outside. Immediately, he saw that his mailbox was full. Odd, he thought to himself as 10 letters were wedged in the relatively small letterbox. Whilst examining the envelopes he became slowly aware that something was wrong. As the letters dropped to the floor Cunzy1 1 felt a cold shiver take over his body. Overnight, it seemed the whole town had been struck with autumn. The beautiful greens that had bathed Gaylando only last night had turned brown and orange. No, it was more than that. He walked up to one of the apple trees and touched the bark. Oh god. A sick feeling rose up from his stomach. This fully grown tree was one that he had...

Following on from this post because there is fuck all else going on (and we are still waiting for that call from the UK:R ladies) we realise that symbolism in videogames is very important. Many normal (=stupid) people think that playing computer games is geeky, a waste of time and stupid! But they just don't get it. Videogames, through the power of symbolism, teach us important lessons in life and remind us of some of the lessons we could learn from history. Sometimes these lessons go beyond even the unquestionable deepness of the original Matrix film. 1) Sonic 2 and WW2. This is one of the classic symbolic games of our time. Sonic, a japanese game , which features checkpoints with stars (= Jewish ). Thus, Sonic 2 is about the Japanese experience in the second world war. How Japan (Sonic) with the aid of the Jews (Checkpoints) tried to defeat the German's (Dr.Robotnik). 2) Katamari Demitri This is symbolic of the " struggle of cancer ". The little green man and the...