Despite being my favourite, I always thought that playing open-world games require a certain state of mind. Games like GTA and inFamous can get pretty overwhelming with the player being spammed with too much info via the sights and sounds of their respective game’s cities. On the other hand, the start of Fallout 3 can be pretty boring and I found Morrowind to be a sleepfest.

Having said all that, the flavour of the month (well months) for me has to be action games and I think I’ve achieved a record by actually finishing games from a genre that I was previously adverse to on the PS2. Within these few months, I’ve finished God of War III, Batman Arkham Asylum and almost every DLC for The Force Unleashed (Ultimate Sith Edition). During the same period, I only finished a single open-world game: Red Faction Guerrilla.

The whole experience is like getting reacquainted with the double jump button, which I still am apparently, after dying 5 times on the Roof of Athens level in the recently acquired God of War collection. It can be summed up as fun and frustration in a tightly woven package. For now, I’ll just leave my new copy of Red Dead Redemption lying at one corner while I satiate my bloodlust on GOW Collection.

This garish looking amalgamation of plastic and rubber is still probably the cheapest Racing Wheel I’ve seen that comes with pedals AND stick shift! Produced by Gammac of South Korea,  the Real Drift Racing Wheel has plenty going for it at its selling price of USD 54. Just check out the specs: vibration feedback, automatic centering system, left mini analog stick and PS button, wheel-mounted shifter, suction cups, fully rubberized wheel, and it’s compatible with the PS3, PS2 and the PC! Click here to purchase it.

I noticed that there are plenty of interesting, bargain-bin priced Sony Playstation 2 (PS2) titles on Play-Asia. Here are some of the notable titles that can be had for under USD 20:

• Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (Greatest Hits) (NTSC-U/C) ~ USD 9.90
• Okami (Greatest Hits) (NTSC-U/C) ~ USD 12.90
• Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny (NTSC-U/C) ~ USD 12.90
• Onimusha 3: Demon Siege (NTSC-U/C) ~ USD 12.90
• Art of Fighting Anthology (NTSC-U/C) ~ USD 14.90
• Bujingai (NTSC-J) ~ USD 14.90
• Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition (Greatest Hits) (NTSC-U/C) ~ USD 14.90
• Street Fighter Anniversary Collection (NTSC-U/C) ~ USD 17.90
• Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World (NTSC-J) ~ USD 19.90
• The King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match (NTSC-U/C) ~ USD 19.90
• Grand Theft Auto III (Greatest Hits) (NTSC-U/C) ~ USD 19.90
• Metal Saga (NTSC-U/C) ~ USD 19.90
• Space Channel 5 Special Edition (NTSC-U/C) ~ USD 19.90

Metal Gear Solid figurines have always been expensive collectibles to collect, one would just need to take the Real Action Heroes series as an example. One Naked Snake in Cold War garb will take you back USD 179, a pretty princely sum normally reserved for, I don’t know… consoles?

In any case, it looks like the very same manufacturer for the Real Action Heroes series, Medicom, will be introducing a cheaper line of Metal Gear Solid figurines called the Ultra Detail Figure Metal Gear Solid Collection 2 come September 2009.

With each measuring at about 160 mm and priced at a more decent USD 34.90 each, this collection consists of Old Snake, Naked Snake, Vamp, The Boss and Raiden.

The Raiden figurine looks particularly cool and most likely I’ll be pre-ordering one. Click on the names for more details and pictures!

I was doing a price comparison of the Nintendo DSi across a variety of importers when I stumbled upon this product post at Renchi.com for a Region Free Playstation 2 Console (SCPH-90000) – Cinnabar Red 110-240V.

Clicking on the question mark next to the word “Region Free” brought me to a pop-up page that revealed the following tit-bit. My question to Renchi would be…does it play pirated games?

I didn’t know import websites such as Renchi are allowed to sell this stuff. Priced at USD 219.90, it’s more expensive than the unmodded Cinnabar Red PS2 console sold at Play-Asia for USD 169 (link). And I didn’t know that modding was that expensive either .

While it’s an entirely different case, will tangling with Sony lead to Renchi going the way of Lik-Sang?

Remember Oneechanbara vorteX and Oneechanbara Revolution for the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii respectively, as well as the Oneechanbara series of games on the PS2? These hack and slash games are like a poor man’s Devil May Cry and the heroine you are using is a cowboy hat equipped, bikini-wearing girl with a katana.

Now, you can catch all that in a live-action movie now out on DVD. Chanbara Beauty stars Eri Otoguro as protagonist Aya. I leave it to fans to comment on whether she looks like her sharp-chinned virtual counterpart. In any case, Chanbara Beauty is available for a very cheap price of USD 13.90. Check it out here.

When it rains, it really pours over here at Nine Over Ten 9/10. The PR guys for EA were nice enough to send a 1 minute 4 seconds trailer for Need For Speed Undercover, featuring Maggie Q, guns, hommies, and of course fast cars. Have a look (right click and click on play to view the video):

The sequel to perhaps the weirdest Dreamcast game ever, Seaman, which is Seaman 2: Peking Genjin Ikusei Kit for the Sony Playstation 2 is now available at a discounted price of USD 19.90 at Play-Asia.

The game comes with a microphone that is used to communicate with the in-game Seaman. Interested in this weird title? Click here for purchasing details.