The Complete God of War series

I’ve been a fan of G.O.W. since part one was released on the PS2 console. The story is about Krato’s a Spartan warrior who is forced to do the bidding of the Olympian Gods to gain his freedom.  The play is third person meaning you control a character as he moves through the game. There are 5 titles in total G.O.W. 1-3 then Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta.

All of the games have ancient Greece as the backdrop for the action mixing original plots with Greek mythology. The creators did an extraordinary job on detail. As an avid gamer I found the control and weapons variety easy to use with a wide selection of weapons to choose from. On each game title the weapons and some of the beasts change so it stays entertaining. 

G.O.W– 1-3 chronicles the ascension of Krato’s from an obedient although reluctant man into a vengeful Demigod. He kills Ares the original God of war, usurps his position and power then goes on a quest to free himself from servitude. During his trials Krato’s learns that the Gods fear the return of the Titans who they have kept bound in chains since their defeat.  He completes all the tasks requested by the gods but they re-neg on there promise to set him free. Krato’s goes on a rampage killing Titans and Gods alike. His wrath takes him all the way to Mount Olympus to battle Zeus himself. 

G.O.W.– Chains of Olympus is a prequel to the series. Originally it was only for Sony PSP but they remastered the game and released it for the PS3. It was the least engaging out of all 5 titles because it lacked in diversity. Most of the creatures repeat through the levels and there was a lack of mini games (miniature games inside the game) which made the other titles so appealing. The plot-line is that the Dream God Morpheus causes all the Gods sleep while Helios the sun God is kidnapped. With the sun gone Morpheus, Persephone and the Titan Atlas, try to destroy the world while the other Gods are sleeping. 

G.O.W.- Ghosts of Sparta is the final title in the series. This is a great title for G.O.W fans because it explores the origins of Kratos. The plot follows Kratos as he finds his mother, Callisto in the undersea city of Atlantis who tells him his brother Deimos, is imprisoned in the Domain of Death. Kratos has to save his brother and fight the God of Death, Thanatos for his freedom. The scenes are superb, the weapons and treasures are on par with the first God of war and the overall game play is excellent.

I think G.O.W is one of the best PS series to hit the market and a must have for any serious gamer who is a fan of third person action.

 

Gamer's Playground

I don’t play video games as much as I used to but when I do play I do it BIG. I like action games that are fast paced with a good storyline and excellent graphics. Games like God of War, Devil May Cry, Tekken, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and GTA (Grand Theft Auto) are examples of my style of gaming.

I’m a PlayStation loyalist only cuz I never brought an Xbox and I stopped buying Nintendo after the 64 bit. I'll admit I've seen some games for the game cube that look interesting but I still won't buy it. On my last adventure to the gamer's playground aka the toy store, where all games and titles are tested, rated, reviewed and criticized. I was fortunate enough to play a few titles for the PS2 and PS3 systems that I think are dope.

Below are games Bioshock 2 (part 3 is on the way), Call of Duty series (some are for PS2 but recent additions like Black OPS are only for the PS3 console), Final Fantasy 7 (the whole series is dope) and Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi. If you like the show, you will love getting to play the characters. Check 'em out.

AniManga: Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z was the first anime I saw when I went to Japan, this was back in 1993. I lived there for over a year and DBZ had already been running for almost four years when I started watching. DBZ started out as a manga (like most anime) and became a T.V. show around 1989. The series follows the adventures of Son Goku and his children from his childhood through adulthood as they train in martial arts and explore the world in search of the seven mystical objects known as the Dragon Balls, which can summon the mystical dragon Shinron who could grant 3 wishes. The wishes could be used for anything like bringing back the dead, to granting immortality. Due to their incredible power the dragon balls attracted a wide variety of villains, both alien and human which Goku and his group of warriors had to defeat.

The show was broken into three seperate series first was Dragon Ball which chronicled Goku's childhood. Then Dragon Ball Z the most popular which dealt with his adulthood and growing martial arts expertise, and finally Dragon Ball GT which dealt more with his children and descendant than Goku. He makes appearances throughout the show, but due to a curse he was reverted to the child form he had in Dragon Ball. Recently DBZ has been re-mastered and released as Dragon Ball Kai, which changes the original footage and story.

Since its release, Dragon Ball has become one of the most popular manga series of its time in both Japan and North America. It enjoys a high readership, with over 150 million volumes of the series, has 17 feature films and was ranking number 12 among the best anime series of all time in 2006. Below I posted a small clip of one of the best fights in the series Goku vs. the Galactic warrior Freeza. Peep the part where he bitch slaps the taste out of Freeza's mouth...if that doesn't get you hooked on the series then the fight with Goku vs. Perfect Cell will.

Cool Toyz

Get ready to lose yourself in videogames—literally.  In May, the Excalibur Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas installed the first public Virtusphere, a human-sized hamster ball that lets you move through virtual worlds by walking, running, or crawling inside it.  Until now, the sphere has been used primarily for military and police training.  Now, wearing a virtual-reality visor, anyone inside can play a first-person-shooter game, tour historic Russian architecture or do any number of leisure activities.

The 10-foot sphere is made of the same plastic as Legos, and its curvature helps to cushion players if they fall.  The ball spins on a platform fitted with 45 caster-mounted wheels.   Beneath, an optical sensor tracks motion the same way a computer mouse does, watching for relative movement across x and y axes.  To make the experience truly immersive, the player is fitted with a head-mounted display with two internal LCD screens.  A laptop wirelessly collects the data from the sensor and the gyroscopes, magnetometers and accelerometers on the headset to create the image the player sees.  Below is a video showing how the system works and for more info on Virtual Ventures go to  360virtualventures.com