hmvblogs - blogs by hmv

In Space no-one can hear you geek out

My name is Darren and I am a recovering geek. I am comfortable with this now and am not ashamed of my past. I thought I had fully recovered but unfortunately I have just seen the more screens for Dawn of War 2 and I’m about to have a massive relapse.

The tyranids, the assimilating hive race that look like something taken from H.R. Gigers nightmares and where sorely missing from the original title and with the welcome addition of special units such as Orc war bosses and wargear means I may not see sunshine in a while.

Nothing to see here, move along

The wait is over ladies and Gents. I am of course referring to the mysterious countdown timer that appeared on Bungie’s site yesterday….

The time has now passed and what has appeared is a teaser for a new game. But do we know any more than we did yesterday? It appears to be a new story set in the Halo universe. The trailer looks stunning, grittier architecture than has been featured in previous halo games and appears to feature drop ships crashing onto the planets service. The cryptic message Halo 3: Keep it Clean crackles in to view as the trailer closes. Is this perhaps the title? Is the master Chief Really Dead? The answer to this and many others can be debated over at Bungie.net where you can also view the trailer.

Hello, Old Friend

More details are emerging of the excellent Resident Evil 5. This time it’s the human adversaries you face while fighting off the zombie hordes in Africa. Firstly there is the stunning Gionne, president of Tricell Africa Branch. But more excitingly is the face lurking on the shadows.

Albert Wesker makes an (un) Welcome return to the series, looking as brooding as ever. At this stage capcom are being understandingly tight lipped as to how much of a role he plays, but personally I am hoping he is at very least a playable co-op mode character.  Its looking like resi 5 is coming along nicely as one of the games of 2009. 

meet the nev

Right, I’m off on holiday for a week – in Malta in case you were interested. Whilst you’re reading this, I’m sitting on a beach sipping on mojitos. Ha.

But who will you turn to for all the latest gaming news? Who’s going to provide the cutting edge, witty commentary that you’ve come to expect from yours truly? Fear not, friends, I’m leaving you in good hands. Introducing (drum roll please)… hmv’s very own, the one and only – Darren, or ‘The Nev’ to most of us.

Look at him, in all his beauty and effervescence. Surely, this is a man in the peak of physical condition.

Darren is going to be posting while I’m away, so check back every day and see what’s been going on in our crazy world of flashing lights. See you in a week! x

gun and go on the ds

Oooh, look at these new screenshots that have just turned up in my inbox. They’re taken from the forthcoming Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars, which is due to be released on Nintendo DS later this year.

As you can see, it’s a top-down view, but there’s an element of 3D perspective in the game as well. The game is set in Liberty City, and features the same map as in GTA IV, minus the island of Alderney – so it’s pretty huge!

There’s an impressive full day/night cycle, loadsa guns, and the sort of mini-games you might expect from a Rockstar title on Nintendo DS – like using the touch screen to ‘jack a car, or mix Molotov cocktails!

Head over to the-magicbox.com now, where you can see more…

de blog!

Yesterday was a write-off. Having vowed to myself to spend Saturday night doing nothing other than sitting in my pants watching The X Factor and trying to complete Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, I actually ended up in some ridiculously over-priced club on Bond Street, and not getting home until 3am – that’s how rock ‘n roll I am.

What this did give me the chance to do was sit in my pants all day on Sunday playing nothing but de Blob, THQ’s new Wii title that’s out this week. Not the most traditional hang-over cure, but actually very good fun indeed. It’s probably more of a kid’s game, but is perhaps the best Wii game that Nintendo haven’t made.

Check it out, I think you’ll like it…

Arrested development movie???

One of the funniest American sit coms in recent years, for me, has to be Arrested Development. It's definitely on a par with Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. The show follows the dysfunctional Bluth family, with Michael (Jason Bateman) acting as the straight man amongst a family of frankly crazy relatives. At the beginning George Snr (Jeffrey Tambor) is incarcerated for dodgy dealings within the family business, leaving Michael as company president and cornerstone of the family. He strives to set a good example for his son George-Michael(!) (Michael Cera), but this proves increasingly difficult with the rest of the family around them.

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new burnout paradise update

Time to dig out that copy of Burnout Paradise - the boys and girls over at Criterion have been hard at work on the latest update for the game, which brings a whole load of cool new features, including a Burnout first - you can now race against each other on motorbikes!

As well as 38 new race events, they've also integrated a fully dynamic day/night cycle, which affects the amount of traffic on the roads depending on the time of day. There's also a fantastic weather system, which brings the game to life and creates new effects whilst you're playing.

Not bad, considering that all this awesome content is yours totally free. Just whack in the Burnout Paradise disc into your console, start up the game and connect to the internet - the update should install itself automatically - good stuff!

The real Spinal Tap, Anvil!

This was one of the best movie nights of the year so far!  We were lucky enough to go to a screening of Anvil!  The Story Of Anvil the other week and it ROCKED! 

Didn't know much about it before hand, it's a documentary about 80's Canadian metal group Anvil who in 1982 released Metal on Metal one of the 'heaviest metal albums in history' that influenced bands like  Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. All those bands went on to sell millions and Anvil pretty much disappeared into obscurity.  The director Sacha Gervasi (who wrote The Terminal) was a big metal head when he was in his teens and became a roadie with the band when he met them at a gig at The Marquee.  Years passed by and he wondered what had happened to them and this film is a results of this.  He hooked back up with his metal heroes and made a documentary that follows them on their (disastrous) European Tour.

The best bit about the evening was when Sacha held a Q and A session at the end and told everyone there was a surprise in store AND in walked Anvil! It  was fantastic, Steve 'Lip's' Kudlow and Robb Reiner (that is his real name, all very Spinal Tap) told a few hilarious stories and then it was off to the bar for a drink. Really hoping that that the film will catapult them into success so they can continue their pact they made at 14 to 'rock together forever'

Couldn't get hold of a clip from the doc, check out this from 08's Sundance...

if only i had a time machine

A couple of these cool gadgets turned up in the office last week. In case you haven’t read about this yet, it’s a portable hand held MegaDrive, and is probably the coolest thing in the world – ever.

It’s got 20 games built in to it, all SEGA originals, in all their 16-bit glory. Games include Sonic and Knuckles, Ecco the Dolphin, and the mighty Golden Axe. Very good indeed! It also comes with a wire to connect it up to your TV, so you can re-live the good old days of gaming on your sexy, new 42” Widescreen HD TV! (or pretty much any TV for that matter)

If you want one, we’ve got some turning up at the hmv.com warehouse in a couple of weeks, and you can order one here for just £29.99 – worth every penny, let me tell you!

Lich King coming this November

Calling all geeks WoW fans – the end is in sight! Activision-Blizzard have just confirmed the release date for the new World of Warcraft expansion pack Wrath of the Lich King, which will be yours on November 13th! OMG, NFW, w00t, OMFG!!

It’s pretty much a world-wide release date, just like the previous expansion pack The Burning Crusade, with gamers from Europe, America, Argentina and Russia all getting the game on the same day.

Exciting new features in WotLK include a new Death Knight Hero class, an increased level cap to level 80, and the harsh new continent of Northrend, packed with new zones, quests, dungeons, monsters, and items – where you can do battle with the undead armies of the Lich King!

lucky there's a family plumber

Have a look at this Mario parody from the makers of Family Guy. It’s one of Seth MacFarlane’s first online video shorts, and it’s pretty funny. Interestingly, in Seth MacFarlane’s Italian/Mario voice, you can kinda hear the vocal connection between Family guy’s Peter and Stewie, don’t you agree?

Just need them to come up with a Sonic one now – that’d be awesome…