The Gamer With Kids

Raptr, on of the most popular social networks for gamers, has evolved with all new features that make coming to Raptr all the more useful. Raptr today launched its new website which adds a new social news platform to the site that will allows users to submit news and view news about the games they play. Raptr is already one of the top sites for tracking the games you play so now, they’ve added a layer of personalized news to it that only delivers relevant news about the games that you play. Pretty clever.

We’d also like to announce that we are one of their launch partners, which is pretty exciting for us. We currently have our own topics page set up on Raptr here: http://www.raptr.com/topic/the-gamer-with-kids/wall, so stop on by and follow our page. We are still in the process of sprucing up the page a bit but feel free to stop on by and say hello.

For more information about the new Raptr, click the read more link below for the full press release.

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Here at The Gamer with Kids, we love all things LEGO so when we saw this new trailer we got excited with the thought of yet another awesome LEGO based game.  ARrrrgghhhh!!!! (been wanting to do that for a while now) it’s a Pirates of the Caribbean based LEGO game and if it’s anything like the LEGO games in the past its bound to be fun for all ages.  Looks like this game should be released at the same time as the next movie in May 2011!

For more information about LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, click the read more link below.

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Excited about the Nintendo 3DS? Don’t preorder just yet. Sony just announced their upcoming successor to their PSP line of portable gaming handhelds and its called the Next Gen Portable (NGP). Sony seems to be really going all out on the NGP as it features a huge 5-inch OLED touchscreen, a rear touch-pad, front and rear cameras, quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processors, and WiFi and 3G connectivity. If you thought the 3GS had some impressive specs, think again. The NGP just basically blew it out of the water. The NGP is expected to release sometime towards the end of the year so if you were thinking of purchasing a 3GS, I’d maybe hold off until the NGP comes out so you can at least compare the two. The NGP seems to be backwards compatible with current PSP titles, although it makes no mention of supporting UMD’s.

Video from PlayStation.Blog

Key NGP features:

• Multi-touch 5-inch organic light emitting display (OLED) as the front display
• Multi-touch pad on the rear of the device
• Dual analog sticks
• Two cameras (front and rear)
• Software titles on small, dedicated flash memory-based cards
• Three motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer and electronic compass
• Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity
• PlayStation Network access, including ““LiveArea™”, “Near” and “Activity” log features Trophy Support
• NGP will be able to play PSP titles, minis, PS one classics, video and comics from the PlayStation Store.

Now, the technical specs:

CPU	ARM® Cortex™-A9 core (4 core)
GPU	SGX543MP4+
External Dimensions	Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)
Screen (Touch screen)	5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colors, OLED Multi touch screen (capacitive type)
Rear touch pad	Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
Cameras	Front camera, Rear camera
Sound	Built-in stereo speakers Built-in microphone
Sensors	Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
Location	Built-in GPS Wi-Fi location service support
Keys / Switches	PS button Power button Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left) Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square) Shoulder buttons (Right/Left) Right stick, Left stick START button, SELECT button Volume buttons (+/-)
Wireless communications	Mobile network connectivity (3G) IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1×1) (Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode) Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR （A2DP/AVRCP/HSP）

[via PlayStation.Blog]

Here are this week’s PlayStation Store updates for those with PlayStations of course. Nothing in this update is actually Halloween themed, but if you go to the PlayStation Store now, there are a ton of Halloween themed games and themes available for download. Click the read more link below to see this weeks full list of updates. I suggest checking out the Star Wars: Force Unleashed II demo.

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There are quite a bit of new games coming out this week for the PlayStation 3. The big games this week are Dead Rising 2 from Capcom and Guitar Hero: Warriors of rock from Activision. Both are heavily advertised this week in all local ads nationwide.

PlayStation 3

Dead Rising 2 — Like millions of Americans, former national motocross champion Chuck Greene is gripped by the TV sensation that is Terror is Reality. Hosted by the flamboyant Tyrone King, Terror is Reality pits ordinary members of the public against an arena full of zombies with a simple challenge – kill more zombies than your opponents and stay alive with the winner collecting big money and the chance to come back and secure even greater prizes.

Brunswick Pro Bowling — Strap on the wrist guard and roll on accurate oil patterns, earn tons of trophies, and unlock hidden items on your way to winning the world championship. Customize your bowler with genuine Brunswick equipment from bowling balls, shoes, and clothing. PlayStation Move friendly.

Quantum Theory — In this hyper-real action-shooter, players experience Syd and Filena’s adventurous ascent through a treacherous tower, presented in an art nouveau style, merging the beauty of organic motifs with technology and action-packed gameplay.

Front Mission: Evolved — Front Mission Evolved brings the classic Front Mission franchise into an action-packed third-person shooter that gives players full control of a massive humanoid war machine — the Wanzer. Choose from dozens of weapons and parts, including weapons that can be equipped on both hands and shoulders, to customize your Wanzer and blast your way to victory. When you think you’re ready for a new challenge, join the ranks of online pilots for multiplayer battles.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock — Featuring more than 90 tracks that include guitar shredding hits from bands such as Black Sabbath, Megadeth and Slipknot and larger than life anthems from Queen, Muse and KISS. Additionally, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth wrote and recorded “Sudden Death,” an original track for the game, which was inspired by Quest Mode’s storyline. Along with original songs, the set list also includes special re-records by famous artists and tracks from bands that are making their music video game debut.

Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland — The popular alchemic RPG series from Gust makes an evolutionary change with Atelier Rorona. The anime style characters and backgrounds remain, but they have been upgraded with a cell-shaded animation style. The basic game play carries over the tradition of the Atelier series, using alchemy as the main focal point. Like the previous series, players can craft new items and also battle enemies using the power of alchemy.

My Sims: Sky Heroes — Starting as an unknown pilot, players fight to become a celebrated hero as they defeat dangerous enemies in aerial combat, test their reflexes in fast-paced speed challenges, and take on massive enemy bosses that demand all their skills as a pilot to survive. As they progress, players build, customize and tune their aircraft to give them an edge in combat – upgrade wings for swifter maneuvers, switch out the engine for a speed boost, or change the paint job to camouflage the plane and avoid enemy fire.

Rapala Pro Bass Fishing (Also on PSP) — For the first time ever in a fishing game, the competition is set up in a professional tournament structure and the action is presented as a live TV event with announcers (including Barry Brueland, the voice of InFisherman TV), live updates, competitive leader boards, analysis, and final weigh-ins.

PlayStation Network

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light — Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light showcases an isometric cooperative adventure that aims to deliver instant, intense action and bite-sized puzzles. Follow Lara as she goes in search of the Mirror of Smoke, an ancient artifact located in a ruin known as the Temple of Light. When she finally reaches the mirror, she is ambushed by a mercenary army who takes the mirror and release an evil entity. The Guardian of Light joins Lara as her unlikely ally to save the world from never-ending darkness.

Sword & Soldiers — A side scrolling real time strategy game in which three distinct factions battle for the powers of the gods. The game features a single player campaign and a competitive split-screen multi-player mode as well as several other game modes.

Megaman 9 & Megaman 10 Bundle — Three pellets of energy from your Mega Buster is all you need when Capcom goes double, delivering a bundle of Mega.. men. Game up, I better not see you running and gunning on easy mode, I’m sure you know — Capcom’s blue mascot cannot get a break.

PlayStation Portable

Fifa Soccer 11 (Also on PS3) — Building on the FIFA 10 gameplay that won 50 sports game of the year awards, FIFA 11 introduces new Pro Passing where pass accuracy is determined by a gamer’s ability on the control pad, and player skill, situation and urgency on the pitch, yielding a deeply rewarding passing system. Plus, a series of new customization tools will enable fans to transform FIFA 11 in new and personally meaningful ways.

[Editor’s Note: The following dates are subject to change. Game details are gathered from Press Releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]

[via PlayStation.Blog]

Welcome to another edition of PlayStation Store Updates. We bring these to you  every week now as some of you might not visit the PlayStation.Blog and thus don’t know what is on sale each week or what has been released.

This is the first week of PlayStation Store updates that I don’t see any PlayStation Plus exclusives. They may be saving the good stuff for next week seeing as Halo: Reach just came out today so most people’s attentions are elsewhere right now. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any decent updates this week.

There are four new downloadable games, one classic game, and several PSP games. The classic game that is up today is Soviet Strike which I used to be a big fan of “Strike” series and remember playing them on the SEGA Genesis and original PlayStation. Other than that, there are a bunch of the usual add-ons as well as a few demos you can try out.

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I’m not even going to pretend that any game that comes out this week even has a chance of being bought or played thanks to something called Halo: Reach. Arguably one of the biggest titles to hit any game console this year, Halo: Reach will basically over shadow any game that comes out in the next few weeks on any console.

That being said, if you don’t own a Xbox 360 and do have a PlayStation 3, you’ll probably be interested in seeing this week’s new releases…or not. Nothing this week really stands out as a must have so maybe that’s for the best as major releases would probably suffer in sales due to the Halo effect.

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I’m going to start posting all PlayStation Store Updates here every week as some of you might not visit the PlayStation.Blog and thus don’t know what is on sale each week or what has been released.

This week on the PlayStation Store, if you are a PlayStation Plus subscriber, you get more free stuff. Qore Episode 28 is free for Plus members as well as a few add-ons, themes and a minis game.

New this week is TerRover by Creat Studios. If you haven’t heard of this game, it’s OK because you can try it out now as a free demo as well as 3 other new demos out this week. The big add-ons for this week are for Mafia II – “Jimmy’s Vendetta” and Dragon Age: Origins – “Witch Hunt.” Enjoy.

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PlayStation.Blog already has tomorrows edition of PULSE up on their site to view so you can either go to their site here to view it in HD, download it tomorrow on the PlayStation Store, or view it above. This edition of PULSE talks about Mafia II add-on “The Betrayal of Jimmy,” Motorstrom 3D Rift, Castle Crashers and more.

[via PlayStation.Blog]

If you were bummed that you couldn’t attend the God of War Live event or the PAX PlayStation.Blog Live meetup in order to get an advanced copy of the God of War: Ghost of Sparta Demo, don’t worry. Sony has you covered.

We know our Spartan Army members are true die-hard God of War fans, so it only makes sense for us to grant our opted-in registrants all premiums and first access. As part of a ‘thank you’ to our hardcore Spartan Army members, we are emailing out demo voucher codes to each and every GodofWar.com and SpartansStandTall.com registrants today, Friday, September 3rd at 2:00pm Pacific time.

So be sure to check your email inbox for your own access to the God of War: Ghost of Sparta demo experience.

All we ask is that you’re within the United States, Canada or Mexico. You must also be a GodofWar.com or SpartansStandTall.com registrant on or before 08/01/2010. For European residence, please check with PlayStation.Blog.Europe for more information.

[via PlayStation.Blog]

God of War: Ghost of Sparta is scheduled for a November 2nd release date and Sony today revealed what the official box art for the game will be. Featured front and center is good old Kratos looking as godly as ever.

If you are really thinking about getting this game, don’t forget to pre-order it as the pre-order includes some pretty hefty bonuses. The God of War: Ghost of Sparta pre-order package includes ALL of the following:

• Ghost of Sparta Original Soundtrack – Be part of the legacy, and relive the emotional soundscape of defiance and rage through the original soundtrack.
• PSP Theme – Are you the ultimate God of War fan? Prove it with the God of War: Ghost of Sparta theme.
• PS3 Dynamic Theme – Fully animated in constant motion, personalize your PS3 system with the official God of War Dynamic Theme.
• PlayStation Network Avatar – Be one of the few to own the exclusive Kratos Avatar only available through this pre-order.
• Legionnaire Skin – Discover the origins of the Spartan warrior as you experience God of War: Ghost of Sparta as Legionnaire Kratos.
• EXCLUSIVE Game Directors Documentary – A full length featured video roundtable with all of the past and present Game Directors for the God of War franchise in front of a live studio audience, including: David Jaffe, Cory Barlog, Stig Asmussen, Ru Weerasuiya and Dana Jan.

I’m a big fan of puzzle games, especially weird Japanese style puzzle games. It’s not really the puzzles itself that make them fun but the way the Japanese seem to present those games to us. Piyotoma is no different. The game is similar to games like Bejeweled, Chuzzle, or any other color matching game you might have played before but the whole presentation and feel of the user interface just makes it seem that much more interesting. Developed by JAPANStudio, Piyotama is basically a game about matching colors and getting rid of them before they reach the top.

What I really like about the trailer though is the quirky music and the fact that the first thing I said to my self was “WTF? Did that chicken just do what I think it did in multiple colors?” And no, that’s not what he did but it sure looked like it.

Piyotoma has been available on the PlayStation 3 for a few years now but is only just making its way to the PSP. For more information and additional screenshots, check out the official Piyotoma site here.  Piyotoma is definitely a game that kids can enjoy and I think parent’s should really encourage their children to play more puzzle type games as it really helps with their cognitive skills.

Game Description:

Hidden deep within the Hotai forest lives a family of playful and mysteriously colored bird-like creatures known as Piyos. Every spring Mother Piyo, “Piyomama,” lays eggs to fill the forest with new colorful Piyos. However, this year, in all of her excitement, she laid too many!

This summer, players can now take one of the most addictive puzzle games released on the PlayStation^® 3 system on the go with Piyotama^® on the PSP^® (PlayStation^®Portable) system! True to its PS3^™ system predecessor, Piyotama^®® is an excitingly addictive action-puzzle game for PSP^® system. tasks players to help her hatch the eggs before they overflow the nest by simply lining up eggs of the same color and chaining them together four at a time to create combos for a hatching frenzy! Piyotama

Piyotama^® delivers fast puzzle gameplay that is easy to learn and hard to quit!

KEY FEATURES

• Fast & Fun Gameplay – Addictive, easy-to-play gameplay appealing to players of all ages and levels. Match 4 or more eggs of the same color to hatch the Piyos.
• Two Modes of Fun Gameplay – Enjoy infinite levels in the “Free Range” mode, or test your skills in timed play in “Egg Timer” mode
• Simple Mechanics – Simple mechanics make Piyotama^® accessible to players of all ages. Use the PSP system shoulder buttons to shake the nest and force matched eggs to warm and hatch instantly.
• Online Ranking and Leaderboards – Perch your hatching skills worldwide.