Admittedly I wasn't as excited for this back when GTAIV had just been released, but the slew of trailers and leaks of story have got me roped back in again. Yeah, The Lost And Damned is now up on the Marketplace to download at 1,600 points for a whopping 1.78GB. It might not be advertised on the dashboard, so just head to Game Marketplace then check Recent Additions or whatever it's called. Download speeds are pretty nice at the moment, doesn't seem like too many people have found it's actually up.

If you're away from the 360, just set up a download here and you'll be good to go. Time to get me GTA on I guess woot woot.

Along with a few nit-pickings, my number one concern about buying a PS3 was the controller. It's clunky, it feels awkward in my hand and it's quite frankly dated. I get what they are doing, trying to make that the standard for the Playstation. But Sony need to realize that their controller was passable at best and a pain in the arse at worst.

Wait, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, Killzone 2. I'll give them credit for not over-hyping this game like they did the original. Let's not beat around the bush; This isn't Halo, and all the press in the world isn't going to make it that. Maybe that's why I got the distinct feeling of Gears of War while playing. Y'know, without the penis-shaped characters and if the Locust were wearing cheap armor with strobe lights. That might sound like an insult, but it isn't. Gears is an over-the-top Hollywood movie in a video game, and sometimes that's a great thing. Killzone 2 seems to be going for that same feeling, and assuming the story is nice and simple with some great action, I'll be sound.

First thing's first though, the demo. Getting straight into it was awkward. Like I'd said, I'd never played an FPS on a Sony console before, so getting used to the sticks was a challenge. They start you out simple, telling you how to crouch, fire, peek and reload (But never run oddly enough). After a while I was mowing down Helghast (That is how you spell it right?) with ease. The controls feel like a mix between COD4 and Halo, with the face buttons doing what you'd expect (Jump, reload, switch weapon and action), and the shoulder buttons feeling odd in their placement (L2 to crouch, L1 to melee, R2 for grenades and R1 for fire). If you are going to go through the trouble of attaching triggers to your new controller, at least use them to fire. You know, like pulling a fucking trigger on a gun?

But I degress. I was moving along nicely when I came to a standstill. A section of the demo asks you to blow up a bridge to clear out enemies. What, blow up that massive concrete bridge with my poxy rifle? I started shooting the guards on top but they kept spawning back. Then I went to look for something to use against the bridge only to find guards on a barrier above us firing down at me. I died twice looking for a rocket launcher one of the guards so luckily had before he bit the bullet (...), and unloaded into the bridge.

...Nothing happened...

Oh, you mean I have to fire at that giant red tank thing on top of the bridge? This is pretty much exactly what is wrong with Killzone 2 from the brief (Very brief) time I'd spent with it. Many of the games objectives aren't clearly laid out for you. A section later asks you to open a flood gate for the rest of the troops to pass through. I spent a few minutes looking for it, searching every room. Admittedly it was a small area and I found it quick, but I can see this becoming a nuisance in the future. Pressing Select simply tells you your objective, offering no insight into how to complete it. Halo at least had the courtesy to bring up a giant arrow if you ever got lost. No such thing here, the game just assumes you'll know where to go. And if not, well, tough shit.

That's really the only bad experience I had with the demo. Killing those ragdoll enemies feels incredibly gratifying, especially with grenades. The bodies spaz out in the air while they fall, and it just look hilarious. Speaking of how the game looks, and I know you all already expect this, but it does look gorgeous. Blood-stained walls after killing some bad guys, beautiful set-pieces being blown to smithereens, impressive and smooth character models. There's no slacking here. It really is one of if not the best game I've ever seen graphically. I just hope the game offers up enough unique scenes to really show off what they've done.

Overall, it's a short demo, it can get frustrating, but it's one every PS3 owner needs to play. I was already buying Killzone 2 before this was released. But getting my hands on the gameplay and getting used to the mechanics and engine has only made me want it more.

Right now I'm scared out of my mind after binging on Quarantine and Left 4 Dead, and I come here to see the clogs filled with these. So why not, right?

1. I'm a fat fuck... but I'm a very picky eater
Ever since I was a kid I never liked trying foods. I remember at a cub scout camping trip, I basically held up dinner for a good 15-20 minutes because I'd never tried roast dinner before. The first time I ate pizza was a year ago at a friend's house, and I haven't eaten it since (But I do like it). When people see me turn down meat, they assume I'm vegetarian and start probing around. Really I just don't like the taste.

2. I used to want to be a games tester
Lincoln is a crap town. There's nothing to do, especially if you're a kid. So when my dad told me his friend worked at Salamander Studios (Now Rockstar Lincoln) as a video game designer, I started bugging him to get me a job as a games tester. I was naive, young and knee-deep in my gaming fantasy. My dad indulged me and we went looking for the place, but never found it. Funnily enough, my mum now knows someone who works there, although now it's used for localization testing.

3. My first internet access was broadband
Yeah, be jealous bitches! 256k motherfuckers, back when all my friends had dial-up and spent hours downloading songs off Morpheus. Sad thing is internet speeds are pathetic where I live now.

4. My first Nintendo home console was the Wii
Nintendo was the black sheep where I was brought up. All my friends, including myself, had a Mega Drive. Then we all jumped to the Playstation, acting as if the N64 never happened. I knew one person who had one, but it was covered in dust next to Sony's grey beast. From there came the PS2, Xbox and now 360. Now apparently it's cool to own Nintendo here in the UK, although that didn't end well, and I sold my Wii last year. I did own a lot of Nintendo handhelds though (The brick, pocket, colour, advance and now DS)

5. I used to skate... badly
On my birthday, my friends convinced me to buy a World Industries deck for about £80. I was gullible and stupid, but I did learn to ollie and could probably do a kickflip like 1 in 20-something tries. Plus the trucks were wonky and the board always leaned to the left which wasn't fun at all.

6. I got my nickname out of annoyance
Back when Futurama was on, I'd get called Kif by friends purely to piss me off. And it worked for a good few months. Hell I even received mail to Kif! Then I learned to live with it, and I've been called Kif ever since. Of course when I met new people, they assumed it was Keef for some reason. Oh, and people think my gamertag Kifisonfire is Kifi's On Fire, so I get called Kifi a lot on Xbox Live. It's my fault though. That was back when I thought Alexisonfire was Alex Is On Fire.

7. I've never seen Star Wars
But I did own Empire and Jedi on VHS, which is odd I suppose. Oh, and I still haven't seen Episodes 2 and 3. Maybe that's a good thing though considering things I've read.

8. I'm an achievement whore
Again, this is kind of untrue. I won't play games purely for achievements. You won't see me boasting about a 100% on TMNT or King Kong (Lost Via Domus is my only guilty choice here, because I was misguided and thought it might be good). But games I do love, I will at least try to play up to completion. Achievements are what force me to really play a game. Plus I just love that "bleep bloop" sound.

9. I am kind of lazy
Scratch that, I'm extremely lazy. Let's put this in perspective here. I used to skip school a lot, I didn't study for exams, I would do ANYTHING to get out of homework. And yet I still walked out of school with high enough grades to study A-Levels. I studied Audio Technology and passed, but have yet to go to uni. I've always wanted to work on audio for games, but considering how slim the market is, that might just be a pipedream. I still love recording and writing music though.

10. I was an O.C. fanboy
Like, obsessed, fan-fiction writing, bought-custom-DVDRs-before-the-DVDs-were-even-out fanboy. It's not a proud moment of my life, and if you dug around you'd easily find some of my horrendous shit. What can I say, I was a teenager and I was very easily entertained. Besides, that show was good for the first two seasons and if you say otherwise I'll have to cut a bitch up.

Let's get one thing out there before I talk about the demo. I loved skate. skate. was the embodiment of a perfect free-for-all game. You don't need a mission or sidequest or bunch of collectibles in skate. Just go out, get on the board and try and mess around. I spent days on that game, trying to find the perfect line, making every trick inch perfect. Then, well, I'd look at the video and not upload it because of EA's servers. But the point is the game was a masterpiece, and it still is. skate. 2 on the other hand, not so much.

First gripe is the story. Skaters being oppressed by the city, sweet spots being locked down and raised security everywhere. Now I doubt it's as bad as the opening makes it sound, but does this sound like a good idea for a sequel to a game where the fun came in freeskating and making your own lines on anything possible? Why would I buy a skating game where I can't skate on everything? Like I said, probably exaggerated, but still.

I opened to the obvious tutorial, even after skipping saying I don't need help. Fine, I'll go through the motions to get some skating action. The game felt smooth and looked a lot nicer too. Then it asked me to get off the board and climb the stairs. Moving your character on it's feet is so terribly clunky and slow. I know you can hold A to make them run faster, but going up the stairs, that does nothing. I don't know how much of a feature it is in the game, but damn the mechanics of your skater off the board feels terrible. Another thing I should mention is spending a good 30 seconds trying to pick up a knocked over rail. You have to be in the precise spot for some items, which I can see getting kind of annoying.

But in the end, it's skate. After the arbitury tutorial teaching me things I already knew, I got to mess around in the park for a good 8 minutes, mostly on the funbox. Speaking of which, it doesn't tell you how to lip which I find weird for a demo that plonks you in the middle of a mostly dominant vert park. But now I'm just pulling hairs for the sake of it. Once you get past the "story" progression, it's still skate. The game flows seemlessly and is as easy to pick up as it ever was. All the demo made me want to do was play skate. again, which is great. I'm still looking forward to the game. Let's just hope those faults are as minimal as possible.

P.S. - Stop with the timed demos for fuck's sake. Limiting us to 8 minutes for no reason whatsoever is just going to stop players playing it further and getting to grips with the system.

As much as I love cute little characters made of sacks, there's a certain charm to my little black ninja. Sure he can't dress up like Snake or, um, the guy from Resistance (Don't look at me like that), but he has a cape. And he can climb walls!

I had a feeling it would only be a matter of time before Microsoft got on this train of user-created goodness where game creators don't have to do a thing. Well, N+ has been out on the arcade for months now and we still have the worst set-up for sharing content. It's possible, but it's dirty. If Microsoft want to give us a platform for sharing our own levels, how about we start with the games that should have had it in the first place!? Seriously, N+ has a brilliant level editor, it's simple to use and play, you can do co-op and it's just a very addictive game. I've made 2 episodes myself and haven't shared them with anyone. I would if I could, but knowing how many people are making levels for themselves is annoying since I can't get to play them!

So yes, Microsoft, if you want to give your users the ability to trade content, give us a level sharer for N+ instead of this bullshit racing Boku business.

</rant>

Side note: Anyone else find it odd that Jim ranted about the Dragonball coverage on game blogs, yet Destructoid frequently is updated about toys of all things?

It must be hard for Epic. Gears was generally loved in the community, but boy did it have it's flaws. I'm sure you couldn't count the number of glitches the original had on both your hands, and every time a patch came out to fix it, a few more showed up in it's place. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised that the first footage of glitching in Gears 2 has surfaced on Youtube. How big of a deal it is, that's for you to decide.

From the looks of things, Baird is roadie-running in his normal running animation. It could just be a new version of crab-walking, a problem Gears fans had to put up with for a while. He also fires a shot from the shotgun at about 46 seconds in (By the way, whoever made this video: You don't need a 30 second intro for a fucking Youtube video) and then reloads a few seconds later. Interestingly, his ammo count never goes down.

Whether this is just a terrible connection or an exploit of the game is yet to be seen. Epic have announced that on release date the game will be patched for server issues and minor fixes though, so it's possible Epic have already nipped this one in the ass. One thing I'm almost definite about though is that this game will have glitches. It's like watching a Saw movie and expecting to see blood.