Space Invaders Extreme Demo Released

Sony has released a demo for the upcoming Space Invaders Extreme. I didn't expect much in an updated version of Space Invaders but I was pleasantly surprised when I downloaded it and played it. I spent at least two hours playing the single level provided and there seems to be some depth to it. Many power-ups, bonus levels, etc. are included. The graphics are good, as are the controls, There also seems to be a little bit of "on the fly" music creation. What I mean is that when you destroy the Invaders the sounds produced compliment the background music in a way that makes you feel as though you are adding "notes" to the music... sort of. Here are some screen shots.





Powered-up weapons:


Invaders can turn sideways as though they were flat:


Boss battles:


Bonus levels:






Detailed score system:


Give it a try, you'll have fun.

Valentine's Day Love = Patapon Demo Release

Sony has officially announced that the Patapon Demo will be released on the Playstation Store on Valentine's Day. Go get it, you won't regret it. Here's a new trailer to wet your whistle.

Patapon demo only playable at GameStop?

Does this mean that the demo will not be provided on the Playstation Store? If so this is b.s. and Sony can suck it, as usual.

Playstation Network Store for the PC goes live!

What we have been waiting for since the PS3 came out is finally here. Download games to your PC and then put them on your PSP without having a PS3. Hopefully the Playstation Network Store lives up to our expectations. I am in the process of setting up my account so I'll update later.

Well it's about 10 mins later. This is the buggiest site I've ever seen. I tried to set up an account and got an "unexpected error" and could go no further. I thought that maybe the servers were getting hammered with the new launch so I would browse the site for a minute. Every page I went to I couldn't "back" out of (with the back button), so you have to click on the header logo to go to the homepage and start over.

Now it is about 4 hours later. I have successfully created my account. It didn't take that long, I had other stuff to do, but the site is still buggy and the content is a little underwhelming. I hope this is like all of Sony's other ventures. Start out slow and shaky, without many games at launch, but after a while it becomes quite good: PS2, PSP, PS3 (hopefully)... Check it out and see what you think.

No God of War demo

Well, I guess I wasn't one of the chosen to receive the GoW demo. This sucks since I signed up just a few hours after the site went up and I've been an Underground member forever. Guess I'll have to wait for the download version. ...grumble....sucks....ass...

originally posted on 10/06/07

UPDATE:

Maybe I was a little naive when I signed up for the God of War demo. They claimed that if I signed up then I would receive a UMD demo of God of War: Chains of Olympus. If you were fooled too, or if you actually received the demo disk, then head over to PSP Fanboy and vote in their poll. Right now 97% of PSP owners who signed up did not get the disk in the mail.

I've been pretty disappointed with Sony's stance on homebrew but I still buy games and other Sony products because for the most part they make good products. For the last couple of years they have been letting their quality and customer service slide. This is probably the last straw. I can no longer support their tyrannical iron fist when it comes to the PSP or their drm/root kits.

Shame on you Sony and shame on us for believing in you.

updated on 10/16/07

UPDATE 2:

Maybe I was a little hasty with my disappointment of Sony. DCEMU Forums has a member who posted that the demos are now showing up. I investigated some other sites and can confirm that others claim to have received their demo yesterday and today. Why would Sony claim that everyone should have received their demos by now? I guess they just jumped the gun. Sony, you need to get your sh...t together.

updated on 10/18/07

UPDATE 3:

I give up it has been a month since my original post and still no demo. Sony you suck, eat ...it. I will be removing my membership in Playstation Underground.

Four games from Realtech VR

I want to begin by saying that Realtech VR has some of the best graphics I have seen in homebrew, they rival commercial games. That being said, two of these games are very good and the other two are o.k. The controls in all four games are tight and intuitive. These are all high quality homebrew games.

Ukke:



This puzzle game has you position blocks on a grid which act as "stepping stones" so you can move your "throwing star" from one side of the grid to the other. Along the way, you must move your "star" to special blocks which enables you to proceed to the next level. Here's the rub, as you move from one block to another your "star" is vulnerable to the white screen which passes over the grid. Make sure you are on a block when the "white screen" glides by. This game is o.k. when it comes to gameplay but not addictive.

Panic Paradyz:



I enjoyed this game more than Ukke but was not blown away. Here you control a large diamond which is followed by many small diamonds (souls). You must try to avoid obstacles, which will kill your souls, by moving left, right, up, and down while following the white path. This game has the feel of a racing game. As you progress through the game it becomes more difficult to keep you souls from hitting obstacles. Fun game but not good enough for my Best Homebrew list.

Freesh:



Evolution is difficult. In Freesh you must feed your molecule so it will grow/evolve. There are two kinds of molecules: regular and starving (surrounded by a red ring). You must venture away from your pet to find smaller molecules to bring back and feed it. Starving molecules cannot be fed to regular molecules but the reverse is possible. Make you trips brief because larger molecules will try to eat your pet. You can repel hungry molecules by "flashing". This game is addictive, fun, and definitely going on my Best Homebrew list.

No Gravity:



According to their website this game is going commercial. This is actually a demo including 5 of the levels. Let's call this a space flight simulator shooter. Fly around collecting boxes, shooting enemies, and destroying mines. Flight controls and game mechanics are flawless. There are several types of weapons to choose from. One complaint: as you take damage from enemies your windshield develops cracks which makes it more difficult to see what you are doing. This is in addition to the frantic gameplay where you may have many enemies and mines on screen at one time. I believe this game is worthy of commercial status and is going on my Best list.

PSP Homebrew Videos

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