Diehard GameFAN

Author: Christopher Bowen

  • Playstation Network Wrap-Up for January 7th, 2010 (UPDATED – 1/9/10)

    Having bought my Playstation 3 on Boxing Day, I’m a bit new to the whole Playstation Store thing. Sure, I’ve dabbled in it via the Media Go software before, when I had to receive my review copy of Gran Turismo, but I can no longer access the store from that infernal piece of hardware now.…

  • Nintendo Download Wrap-Up for January 4th, 2010

    Welcome to the new era of wrap-up columns here at Diehard GameFAN! For the past couple of years, we have wrapped up the Virtual Console’s entries and given blurbs on the downloadable entries on WiiWare and DSiWare. This year, we’re doing it different. We’re going to wrap up the Virtual Console’s entries, and give blurbs…

  • Virtual Console Wrap-Up for December 28th, 2009

    Downloadable services are almost like children. They start out awkward and wobbly, eventually grow a bit, and make people cry as they reach full maturation and show their full potential. Lately, we’ve seen Nintendo’s downloadable services take their SATs and apply for colleges with some solid weeks, including the expansion into arcade titles and some…

  • Football Feature, Wk. 3 – Discussing FIFA and Pro Evolution

    The past two weeks, we’ve talked a lot of football, or more specifically, a lot of football games. After being called out by Mohamed Al-Saadoon in his review of Pro Evolution Soccer ’10 for the PC, I reviewed both football games. It’s obvious that although I did like Pro Evolution, I felt FIFA was the…

  • Virtual Console Wrap-Up – 12/21

    Nintendo hit a milestone this week: their 500th downloadable title! Nintendo is celebrating by releasing a couple of very big-name titles for the Virtual Console. The question is: are these titles worth your money? Let’s find out. Super Smash Bros. Developer: HAL Laboratory Publisher: Nintendo Original System: Nintendo 64 Original Release Date: 4/27/1999 Price: 1000…

  • Review: Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Genre: Realistic Sports Release Date: 10/26/2009 (EU) – 11/3/2009 (NA) Last week, as part of our football special, I reviewed FIFA ’10. I stated at that time that considering how good it was, it was going to be extremely hard to unseat it as the best football…

  • Review: FIFA ’10 (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    FIFA ’10 Developer: EA Canada Publisher: EA Sports Genre: Realistic Sports Simulation Release Date:10/2/2009(EU) – 10/20/2009(NA) I wasn’t intending to review this year’s football games initially; simply put, I didn’t have a whole lot of time on my hands at the time they were released, and had a slew of games coming in that I…

  • Review: Press Your Luck (Nintendo Wii)

    Press Your Luck (aka: Press Your Luck – 2010 Edition) Developer: Ludia Games Publisher: Ubisoft Genre: Game Show Release Date: 10/29/2009 I’m willing to bet that anyone that was born in North America between the years 1971 and 1983 spent an large part part of their childhood watching game shows. They were glitzy, colourful, had…

  • Review: Academy of Champions Soccer (Nintendo Wii)

    Academy of Champions Soccer Developer: Ubisoft Vancouver Publisher: Ubisoft Genre: Arcade Sports Release Date: 11/4/2009 Being born and bred in North America makes being a football fan no different for me than it is for anyone in a more traditional football market like… well, like everywhere else in the world except North America: I’m a…

  • Review: Space Invaders Extreme 2 (Nintendo DS)

    Space Invaders Extreme 2 Developer: Project Just Publisher: Taito/Square Enix Genre: Arcade Shooter Release Date: 03/26/09 (JP)/ 10/20/09 (US) I won’t lie: I freaking loved Space Invaders Extreme, as did fellow colleague Mark B. It was my nominee for DS game of the Year for 2008, and shocked the hell out of me considering the…

  • Review: Need for Speed: SHIFT (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    Need for Speed: Shift Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: Slightly Mad Studios Genre: Realistic Driving Simulator Release Date: 9/15/2009

  • Review: Military Madness: Nectaris (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    Military Madness: Nectaris Developer: Hudson Soft Publisher: Hudson Soft Genre: Turn Based Strategy Release Date: 10/30/2009 Turn based strategy (TBS) games have come a long way over the years. Most gamers got into the genre thanks to the original Final Fantasy Tactics. Some came in later with Advance Wars and Fire Emblem. Some date farther…

  • Review: Bubble Bobble Neo! (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    Bubble Bobble Neo! Publisher: Taito Developer: Taito Genre: Action Platformer Release Date: 9/16/2009

  • Review: Gran Turismo (Sony PSP)

    Gran Turismo Developer: Polyphony Digital Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Genre: Realistic Driving Simulation Release Date: 10/01/2009 In a podcast I recently did for SFX 360, there was discussion about Gran Turismo 5. I joked that I’d have to see it to believe it, and compared it to Duke Nukem Forever due to the amount of…

  • Review: NHL ’10 (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    NHL ’10 Developer: EA Canada Publisher: EA Sports Genre: Realistic Sports Game Release Date: 9/15/2009 Every year, starting in July and ending in October, is the big sports game rush. For most so-called “hardcore” gamers, this is something they pooh-pooh while wearing a beret coloured like Mario’s hat and whistling on a flute shaped like…

  • 30 Days of Dreamcast – Day 17: Skies of Arcadia

    Skies of Arcadia Developer: Overworks Publisher: Sega Genre: Turn Based RPG Release Date: 11/13/2000 I’ve already talked about Grandia II earlier in the month. I have past experience with Grandia, and it’s hard to believe that it didn’t come out more than nine years ago with as wistfully as I talked about it. “Wow, I…

  • 30 Days of Dreamcast – Day 13: Grandia II

    Grandia II Developer: Game Arts Publisher: UbiSoft Genre: Tactical RPG Release Date: 12/6/2000 Since well before I started writing for Diehard GameFAN, we’ve basically made one major point when it came to the Dreamcast: the average gamer didn’t know what they were missing. While the Playstation era was getting all of the mainstream attention and…

  • Preview: Need for Speed: Shift

    I was able to attend the Need for Speed event at the BLVD nightclub in New York City recently along with my colleague and fiancee, the beautiful Aileen Coe. A big deal has been made about NFS:S being a chance for the Need for Speed franchise as EA tries to expand the brand a bit.…

  • Demo Impressions: NHL ’10 (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    As a sports gamer, I look forward to the end of summer every year, because this is when the big annual releases come out. NCAA Football usually kicks off the season, with everyone waiting around for the spectacle that is the yearly Madden release. This then leads into the other sports, with the NHL, Football/Soccer,…

  • Review: Chaos (Microsoft Xbox 360)

    Chaos Developer: HellborgDE Publisher: Microsoft Indie Games Genre: Uh… Physics Based Circle-Slammy Thing? Release Date: 8/12/2009