Grifter Online and Console Games Hints,Tips,Reviews and In-game Footages.

The date 04/09/09 carries some special significance in the world of Bungie and Halo. What that significance is, we don't know for sure. At the end of its weekly update , Bungie added the sly little note, "P.S. 04/09/09." If I were a betting man, I'd put that as the previously unannounced release date for the Mythic Map Pack . This newest set of maps is thus far only available to those who purchase the Limited Edition of Halo Wars, though Bungie has promised to make it available for sale through the Xbox Live Marketplace eventually. But who knows? Maybe we'll get some new info on Halo 3: ODST that day. Leave your guesses as to what the date means in the comments below.

Sony continued its dominance over in Japan this past week, topping Media Create's hardware and software charts. For the week covering March 9 through March 15, PS3 topped the software chart once again, now the third week in a row. Koei did the honors this time, with the newly released Warriors Orochi Z selling 112,283 units, but continued sales of Yakuza 3 and Resident Evil 5 gave the system three top 10 placers. The full top 10 is as follows: 1. Warriors Orochi Z (Koei, PS3): 112,283 2. Resident Evil 5 ( Capcom , PS3): 61,483 3. 3D Picross (Nintendo, DS): 38,056 4. Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! (Nintendo, DS): 37,907 5. Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce (Koei, PSP): 33,255 6. New Play Control Pikmin 2 (Nintendo, Wii): 28,706 7. Yakuza 3 (Sega, PS3): 23,815 8. Seventh Dragon (Sega, DS): 22,341 9. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G PSP the Best (Capcom, PSP): 16,209 10. Resistance (Sony, PSP): 15,651 In addition to Warriors Orochi Z, 3D Picross, Pikmin and Resistance were all new this week. Son

The PSP has seen its fair share of golf games. Previously, the Hot Shots series has had a big presence on Sony's portable and gave gamers-on-the-go a great avenue for playing some casual-friendly golf in a light-hearted environment. But another name in golf is making its way to the PSP: Pangya . TOMY Corporation is bringing Pangya: Fantasy Golf, the popular Korean golf experience from Ntreev Soft, exclusively to the PSP this summer. The game features beautiful fantasy-themed courses, 18 characters and tons of customization. As if thousands of character options aren't cool enough, Pangya will also feature a story mode for each character! Now that's style. Considering how new the Pangya franchise is to the U.S. market, we sent in some questions to Mike Jones at TOMY Corporation so we could find out more about this unique, fantastical golf experience. Ah, the beauty of anime sports! IGN: Hello! Thanks for taking the time to do this Q & A with us. Tell us who you are and w

The Nintendo DS has been on one hell of a hot streak thus far in 2009. While Wii continues to have a decent – but fairly light – sprinkling of titles over the first three months, DS already has a few serious Game of the Year contenders. Today alone we're seeing three titles hitting shelves that all score in the upper echelon, awarded with Editor's Choice awards and sitting not only at the top of this year's list, but overall in their own respective genres. How did Konami compete with Rockstar's GTA or EA's Henry Hatsworth? Well, launching a spin-off to one of the biggest RPG franchises in the world is a good start… For starters though, it's absolutely worth mentioning to fans of the franchise that Suikoden Tierkreis is an otherworld spin-off of its original inspiration. This isn't the same series that got its start on the original PSX, you won't find duels, massive army vs. army battles, any returning characters, or a very mature story. What you will

I love NIS America, I really do. That they try so damned hard to fill a niche that a very select few other publishers even dare tackle is admirable -- commendable, even -- but while a cursory glance would make it seem like Atlus finally has a friend in the import business, the chasm in quality of releases between the two publishers is becoming ever greater with each successive release NISA pumps out. Oh, their own internally-developed titles like the recent Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? or the Disgaea series get fantastic localizations (the PSP port of the first Disgaea was, at the very least, dead even with the PS2 original and some might say, thanks to the new content, even better ), but it seems like the other stuff -- in particular Gust's RPGs -- are getting second-hand treatment at best. NISA's PSP efforts have been even more spotty. A string of Idea Factory-developed ports were, at turns, absolute abominations, slightly improved and almost passable, but with the por

It would seem that videogames and World War II go together better than Brad and Angelina. Every year, a handful or first-person shooters and a bunch of flight games are set in the era, and people keep buying them up. Sadly, this overabundance of historical warfare doesn't usually bleed over to the PSP, but Graffiti Entertainment and Cowboy Rodeo are looking to change that with Air Conflict: Aces of World War II, a PSP title that's going to put you in the cockpit of 17 planes in more than 240 missions. In Air Conflicts , you'll be able to either jump into one of several campaigns or take to the skies as part of an ad-hoc multiplayer match for up to eight players. When your boot up Air Conflicts and choose to go solo, you'll enter a name for your pilot and then pick which country you're going to fly for -- the British Royal Air Force, the German Air Force known as Luffwaffe, USSR, or U.S. Air Force. Get'em in your crosshairs. What's interesting about this is

Earlier this year, Ubisoft released Tenchu: Shadow Assassins on the Wii, a ninja-filled stealth game developed by the original creators of the franchise. The game once again placed players in the quiet shoes of two ninja: Rikimaru and Ayame, who both serve Lord Gohda by carrying out his less-than-clean work. The entire game is played from a third-person perspective and players move around dark environments, systematically dispatching guards and carrying out Lord Gohda's will. In a few weeks, Ubisoft will be bringing Tenchu: Shadow Assassins to the PSP. As far as I can tell, Shadow Assassins will be a very straight-forward port of the Wii version with no new modes to speak of. PSP owners will simply be taking this stealth experience on the road -- ditching the motion controls along the way. In Shadow Assassins, you control either Rikimaru or Ayame through a series of story missions that tell of their exploits under Lord Gohda's employment. Besides the story missions -- which c

March 6, 2009 - The PS3 did something this week it hasn't done since Metal Gear Solid 4 came out: topped Japan's hardware charts. Thanks to Yakuza 3, the system managed to beat not only the Wii, but the seemingly unbeatable DSi as well. Media Create's charts for February 23 through March 1 put Yakuza 3 in first place in its debut week, with 372,301 units sold. As a comparison, the first PS3 Yakuza game, a side story known as Yakuza Kenzan, managed lifetime sales of around 348,000 units. Sega is presumably happy with these results. Don't worry Solid Snake fanatics. Metal Gear Solid 4 still holds the record over in Japan for PS3 debuts, with 465,000 units sold in its first week last summer. But with Yakuza 3's strong performance, and a set of ubiquitous promotions involving everything from cup noodles to suntan salons, we expect Yakuza to have some legs. Snake had better watch out for Kiryu and Haruka sneaking up on him from behind. Sega had some wild promotions for

March 10, 2009 - There's no sense in beating around the bush -- Resistance: Retribution is excellent. It's got a main character you'll connect with, an engaging single-player campaign, a crapload of unlockables, PS3 connectivity and the strongest online multiplayer I have ever seen in a PSP game. In short, you're an idiot if you don't buy this game. Set between Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2, Retribution tells the tale of James Grayson . A British Marine, Grayson was doing his part in the fight against the Chimera when he and a pair of soldiers stumbled into the middle of the Chimera conversion process (i.e. a beast turning a human into a monster). The boys took out the overseeing baddie but discovered that the person on his way to becoming the enemy was actually Grayson's brother. Grayson kills his own brother and it basically cripples Grayson's life as he knows it. He goes AWOL from the armed services and sets out on a one-man campaign to blow

March 5, 2009 - If you're totally unfamiliar with Dragonball, you've somehow managed to avoid one of the most widely distributed manga/anime/game licenses around. Revolving around a set of seven magical orbs that have incredible power, as well as ample amounts of over-the-top fighting, the Dragonball franchise has been spread widely across a number of mediums and the action is coming to the big screen next month. A full-length film titled Dragonball: Evolution will follow Justin Chatwin's portrayal of Goku and all the antics therein. To correspond with the release of the movie, the PSP will be getting a fighting game by the same name. Dragonball: Evolution borrows heavily from the fighting mechanics of the previous Dragonball games but occupies the movie's universe. The result, at least for now, is a bit of a mixed bag. Pow! Dragonball: Evolution has a number of different modes to choose from, including a full Story mode, Arcade mode, an Ad-hoc Network Battle feature,

February 4, 2009 - I have no rhythm. Patapon helped me learn beats, but like Terrence Howard in Mr. Holland's Opus, I'm pretty lost when it comes to keeping pace with music; it's one of the reasons I prefer singing in Rock Band and couldn't get very far in Elite Beat Agents. Still, every once in awhile a music game comes along that makes me put on my headphones, have some fun, and not care that I suck at tapping buttons in time with tunes. DJ Max Fever is one of those games, and if you dig quirky titles and Asian-inspired pop tunes, it probably deserves a place in your UMD collection. If you've played Guitar Hero, Rock Band, or -- God help you -- Rock Revolution, the mechanics of DJ Max Fever should be second nature. Although the franchise has made several appearances across the sea, Fever represents DJ Max's first trip to the United States and is actually a compilation of DJ Max Portable and DJ Max 2. You'll choose a song, a video will start to play, and

March 5, 2009 - The Phantasy Star series has been around for many years and has traversed a broad number of consoles. While the original Phantasy Star games were more traditional RPGs, recent iterations of the franchise have turned towards the online multiplayer landscape --most notably with the release of Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast -- almost ten years ago. Now, Phantasy Star Portable is available on the PSP and once again bestows players with ample amounts of laser swords, elf ears, sentient robots and all sorts of anime-styled goodness. Unfortunately, Phantasy Star Portable doesn't return to the legendary roots of Phantasy Star Online but rather borrows more heavily from the less-than-perfect Phantasy Star Universe. But before you Phantasy Star enthusiasts go running off to the corner, I'll tell you that Phantasy Star Portable is still fun despite its problems. If only the game had returned to its surreal, nearly melancholic roots, we'd have had a brilliant U

March 6, 2009 - If there's one thing you know, it's that IGN loved Patapon. Besides giving it the award for PSP Game of the Year 2008 and a runner-up nod in terms of overall music/rhythm game, we still find ourselves bopping along to the pon-pon rhythms in our heads. Still, there's one thing that always bugged us about the release of the original game -- we never got any cool Patapon crap to spend our money on. Sure, there was the Bearbrick Patapon-themed bear, but that little guy was less than a business card in length. We want some real chotchkeys. Our desks are begging to be overrun with Patapon stuff! With Patapon 2 getting closer by the second, the IGN PlayStation Team has pulled together the following list of stuff Sony needs to get made and get out the door to dedicated consumers like us. If the company wants to move UMDs come May, it needs to kick its marketing department in the ass already. And, trust us, nothing markets a sequel better than the game's characte