Gamestop Managers Conference 2009 Inside Report

Managers Conference Inside report day 1

An inside friend at the Gamestop Managers conference 2009 has sent me an email with a load of information regarding the gaming industries hot and heavy titles and a quick coverage of everything they have experienced thus far.

HALO 3 ODST

Bungies long-awaited shooter was available for play, and for any Halo fan they will not be dissapointed, for anyone looking to see the series be revitalized and explode into a new frontier for the Halo genre, they will be. It’s a touched up Halo 3. The Firefight mode, sporting an impressive four player coop showed off a large amount of new weapons unnamed to us, and a great amount of cool units. Brutes with jet packs jumping obstacles, the shield runners moving in a Phalanx formation, and the snipers were DEADLY accurate, the game definitely requires more skill to hold up against the covenant waves then its predecessor.

Over-all I give the game an 8 from the experience, the visuals were good, gameplay flowed

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
All you marvel kids hold onto your hats, the game looks better than the first iteration of the series, and the character list is fantastic, the playable demo allowed control of Storm, Spider-man, The Human Torch, and the Cap, provided you pick the “rebellious side”, leading you to then battle and unlock a re-tooled dead-pool. If you pick the side of the pro-enlistment group you are given Iron Man, The Hulk, The Thing, and Wolverine. I assume the sides twist and writhe as you progress the story, and the twists take effect. SPOILER ALERT!! Upon further questioning of the Activision staff, tho the game is based upon and follows the civil war comic series, Captain America does not surrender as he does in the series, and he will not be killed. The only answers beyond that we could get is, “You will not see this ending coming.”

Marvel’s preview rating 7.5 for gameplay, and an 8 for story.

Forza Motor Sports 3

A great simulation racer for anyone who wants to drive the cars they’ll never own at incredible speeds through gorgeous scenery. The game looked and felt great. The one button driving for idiots like me made it super simple to just dive into the game and tear up the tracks. I also really liked the rewind feature, where simply pressing the back button will rewind to a check point about 15 yards back so that you can retake a turn you messed up, or avoid an accident you may have caused. And with stronger car customization support. This game will definitely out do Forza 2 by leaps and bounds.

Rating 9

Split Second

I don’t do racers, I dont even pretend to understand cars, and damn this game caught my eye. The HUD is all on the back of the car, your drift time, speed, gear, all cleanly integrated into the vehicle. The world is very well designed and looked gorgeous, and to keep the destruction junkies like myself interested you earn power plays. When you trigger the events, literally changing the entire track, whether you destroy the airports control tower, bring a plane crashing into the track, or roll a semi across the lanes to clear out the other racers, this game brings what I felt was the next step for Burnout-style destruction racing.
Reserving this game at GameStop will get you a limited edition die-cast car, and the code to download it in game when it releases.

Preview rating for Split Second 8.5

Modnation Racing


PS3 owners if you haven’t read up on this, do it! Fully customizeable worlds in the spirit of LBP, make your character look how you want, make your kart look how you want, unlock new items, pieces, clothing weapons by winning races. And in the loving theme of the play/create/share gaming an amazingly fluid track creator. Everything renders instantly in HD, you control lighting effects, path interruptions, ramps, weapons drops (mario kart much?). This game will be a must have for any gamer, the kart racing element was hilarious and the multiplayer aspects were genius.

The PSP Go


The system is sleek, shiny and launching October first with Gran Turismo five right on its heels, a good buy for any digital media focused gamer. The usual concerns come up with no UMD slot being present, and Sony did not comment on any plans to make the UMDs you may already own rippable. The 16 gig built in memory, and the expandable pro duo micro slot makes it a great value for those of us who hate carrying game carts/discs around.

COOL facts you may not have known
The PSP Go can sync with almost every blu-tooth device making your ps3 wireless headset a useable gaming piece for your go. Also most games will be developed in support of the DualShock 3 controller, which can also sync with your psp-go to control the games. The video output will still be built in so you can use your PSP Component cables to connect your go to your tv, sync your DualShock 3 and play PSP on your tv, not a bad deal at all. It will still support all other PSP features, and be sold along side the current PSP 3000.

Gran Turismo PSP

39.99 800 cars, 35 tracks, solid graphics great racing. This is a great psp title available October 1st.

Ghost Busters for the PSP
on NOV 3, 2009 the game will launch for PSP, AND, all other versions of Ghost Busters will see a price drop to coincide with the launch.

DJ HERO
was fanastic, rhythm game enthusiasts will love it, and enthusiasts of DJing will find it to be a fantastic translation of their art into a game. great mixes and a huge lineup of 100 songs. Buy this game

It will retail for 39.99 and ship very soon this holiday season, the graphics are re touched, and the game looks fantastic!!  Both redone games for 40 bucks? Hells yeah.

More info to come as the week rages on! Comment with any questions and I’ll get answers as fast as possible.