Blog Update

Genuinely sorry there haven't been many posts lately, I will try to get back to my frequent posting of earlier this year. I have been a bit busy with course work, home work and Dawn of War! Yes, I have bought Dawn of War. I will review it soon by first impressions are very good as it runs without any lag on my PC with some really quite impressive explosions, physics and lots of action on the screen at once. I got it in the Anthology pack for £20, which includes the two expansion packs, "Winter Assault" and "Dark Crusade." Unfortunately, Dark Crusade won't run on my computer apparently, so after I have checked it (which will involve un-installing stuff) if it doesn't work I will sell it on Ebay. (If you are interested in buying it, as a reader of my blog, you get a presale edition!)

As I predicted, news is a bit slow at the moment, particularly with E3 approaching fast. One interesting story is the ban of Manhunt 2 in the UK and the US. This is the second complete ban on a game ever. Prior to the ban, it was coming out on the Wii and PS2. So who said the Wii was a kids console?

Talking of Wii, Resident Evil 4 has come out for it and got a glowing report on GS. It got the score of 9.1, which is the highest score on the Wii at the moment. I can't wait to get it wait to get it, Amazon puts the release date at the 29th of June. It sounds fantastic, making it the first decent shooter on the Wii. Given that it is a last gen port, it must be amazing to still have earnt that score. (For reference, Legend of Zelda did hold the title with 8.9)

Talking about releases, it seems there are a lot of Wii games coming out really near each other. Metroid Prime 3, Battalion Wars, Tiger Woods 08 (I will only get that if it has online play, which is what is stopping me getting the '07 version) Fifa '08 (which looks interesting to say the least, but once again will need online play to get my buy), the new Pokemon game and at around that time Geometry Wars. I think I need to watch my pennies.

I was in town yesterday and I saw two racing games on the Xbox 360. I, unfortunately only got to play one, but got a good look at both of them. One had amazing physics that was just incredible to watch, never mind play with. There was so much junk just flying about in front of you, you were ducking to avoid it. Wooden fences that in older racing games would have been rock solid just flew in to the air, tyre walls would smash and would come flying towards you and there was an immensely cool damage model implemented on every car. The other one featured quite bland colours and didn't look intense at all. The car models looked un-ambitious and the whole game smelt of a PS1 game with breathtaking reflections and a sharp image. The first one felt like a next gen game, the other one looked like a normal, mildly amusing racing game. Do you know what they were? The first one was Fullout, a Burnout sequel. The second was Forza Motor Sport 2. I couldn't believe it. I did not get a chance to play it, but I was stunned, for the best racing game ever, it didn't look very impressive.

I watched Glastonbury last night and Friday night. I have been looking forward to this for 2 years now. I was a little disappointed with the line up, the headliners being Arctic Monkeys, Killers and Kasier Chiefs. The Killers were amazing, as were Kasabian (as you would expect) and the Editors (whose album comes out this week) Another disappointing thing was my red button wasn't working. This meant I had to sit through the likes of Maximo Park and Amy Winehouse, neither of whom were very good. Kaiser Chiefs are on tonight and they are always quite amusing to watch live.

The new Harry Potter book is coming out soon so I have re-read the whole series to refresh my memory, I had forgotten how good it really is. The new book is £18.99 which is shocking given it doesn't even look that long. If you pre-order it however, you can get it for £8.99 which is what I am going to do.

As for Brawl updates, I don't think I should do them as they aren't very significant but rest assured if any significant updates do happen, then I will post them.

Upcoming posts include:

• Console Wars Summary
• Civilization 4: Warlords review
• New E3 coverage
• And the latest game news, reviews previews and analysis.
  

Cornwall Photos

Sorry no posts recently, been busy. Anyway, here are my Cornwall Photos:

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Dojo Update [Start-05/06/07]

This is your first update of what has been published in the Dojo. I will aim to publish every Sunday, however, I have missed the first one as I was in Cornwall. This week[ish] has had no major updates. There are a couple of music tracks and some characters that we already knew about. Also, there are some items, which are probably the most exciting updates. So here is what has been announced.

Battlefield - Map

This is the simple map. The maps structure does not change has the battles goes on. It features just a simple set of platforms that can provide a very simple, but none the less fun, game of SSBB. To counter the relative dullness of the map, as the battle progresses, so does the time of the day. You can start in the afternoon, fight right through the night and in to dawn. This will probably be the most long term played map in the game.

The Musicians - Music

This item lists the musicians that will be behind the soundtrack in the game. Also, there is the most iconic piece of Smash Bros music ever. Almost anyone who has shown the slightest interest in video games will recognise this epic piece of music. This music is, and will remain until the Dojo trumps it, on the sidebar at the top. All future music updates will have the player embedded into the post.

Mario - Character

The most famous character is, unsurprisingly, in the latest Super Smash Bros. Some cool images are revealed in this post but not very many details. He is said to be the balanced character that will be easy to get to grips with, combining good attacks, with good jumping and good everything else. His Smash Move (see later) has been announced. Basically he will catch fire and damage everything near him in a massive attack.

Link - Character

The character taken from the Zelda series will also be featuring in this game. The model will be based on his latest adventure, Twighlight Princess, you can read my review for that here. This character will be more weapons heavy than Mario, and will require a little more practice to get the best performance

Gooey Bomb - Item

This weapon is similar to the likes of a plasma grenade in Halo. You throw it and it will stick on most things in the game. I will then explode, causing serious damage. However, if you get one stuck on you, all is not lost as it is possible to stick it back on to the person who "tagged" you.

Pit - Character

Pit is a character from Kid Icarus. No details have been released about how he fits in with the rest of the characters, two special moves however, have been announced. Firstly, he will be able to fire a "Palutena Arrow" This can be controlled after fire, but this will require quick reactions as the arrow moves at the speed of light! Also, he can enter a free flight mode, which is basically a superior jump with much greater freedom. However, be warned, it will end, so make sure you are over the ground

Final Smash - Game Feature

Final smash is a unique move that exists in each character. Although only Marios has been officially announced, Warios appears to be a gigantic fart and Kirby appears to cook people. You can find out more speculations in this post. It will be a move that each player can conduct once throughout the whole game. It can only be executed if you get the Smash Ball. I imagine that many of these attacks will be amusing to say the least.

Moving and Shooting - Game Feature

Automatic firing weapons have been brought back to the game. This time round you can move and even jump whilst shooting. Power to the people!

Cracker Launcher - Item

This is basically a rocket launcher. You pick it up and fire. Simple, but effective. Some of the pictures in this update really show off the graphics.

Delfino Plaza - Map

This map will fly you around the beautiful city of Delfino. Every so often the map will fly you to a different section of the map. This can be very distracting, making it a much harder map for veteran players. As for the set up of the map, it changes as you fly around but none of the screen shots make it look to complicated.

Yoshis Story Ending - Music

This song is very good. It is not as good as menu 01, but is certainly worth a listen. Check it out here:

It Was Forty Years Ago Today... [Blog Update]

...When Sgt. Peppers taught the band to play, they’ve been going in and out of style, but they are guaranteed to raise a smile, so let me introduce to you, after all these years, the one and only Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band. That’s right, it’s the 40^th anniversary of Sgt Peppers, the iconic album from the legendary Beatles.

Ok, sorry no posts lately, I have been in Cornwall, and what a time I have had. I went body boarding for the first time in my life, and it was awesome. I stayed near Trebarwith Strand and Tintagel. The rock shapes were amazing, having been naturally carved by erosion. I went body boarding most days that week with varying sized waves. At the start they were relatively small, measuring 1-2ft, but by the end they were really very big (and quite scary) at about 6-7ft. Also, there are the nicest doughnuts there that are cooked on site. We went to King Arthur's castle on one day, the views were truly spectacular, watching the waves crashing in to the rocks was incredible. We also visited a town called Polperro on the south side of Cornwall where there are the nicest chocolate and fudge shops! I really enjoyed my time and thankyou to the King family who were kind enough to take me, I hope I wasn't too much trouble. Photos coming soon to my flickr account, I will post the best ones here.

As usual, I came back from holiday with loads of mail, each containing gaming news that I have failed to report. Fear not, for I will now summarize it.

End War details announced

A very exciting game from the Tom Clancy lot, End War, has been explained and confirmed for 360, PS3 and PC. The game will be a on-line war game. You will join a game of up to 12 people and make two sides of 6. You then divide the units on your army between the players. You will then choose a contested battle ground and fight on it. The game will then work out the average result (based on all the battles in your game) and say who won it. The actual battles will be controlled completely by voice commands. This game has caught my attention right from its mysterious announcement a while back, but now, it may just make me get a 360 or upgrade my PC. It is being developed by the people behind the Total War series as well as others, just in case you were in any doubt about the quality.

Geometry Wars Confirmed

A while back I posted a Nintendo update. One of the stories was a rumoured version of Geometry Wars for the Wii and DS. This has now been confirmed. It will feature a full single player mode and multiplayer mode with 4 styles of play. The single player, although no solid details have been announced, will be massive and incorporate things such as planets. It is semi-scheduled to be released before the holidays, hopefully not at full price.

Forza 2 Gets a stunning Review

Forza was the best racing game on the Xbox, whatever your taste, and arguably the best racing game there has ever been. It was both realistic and arcady, plenty of help for beginners and loads of depth for veterans and of course the massive amount of customisation you could give to your cars. This has, according to Gamespot, been built upon to craft a masterful game. It received a massive score of 9.8. The only criticism they could make was that there wasn't a lot of variation in the sound effects. If GS are anything to go by, you should get this game, and if you don't have a 360, get a 360 to play this game.

Brawl Update

Don't worry, I have just been reading all the latest updates from the Dojo. I will post a summary of what has been released so far in a minute. So far, nothing breath taking has been announced. But be patient, they have to release new information from now until launch every day.

Anyone who has been watching the news may have noticed that Bush has agreed to start acting in the interest of the environment. My first reaction was "about time too, what's the catch," but before I had even said it, Bush explained. He wants a deal to involve China and India. It is no secret that Bush and the rest of America is very scared of China as it could overtake them as world super power. As everyone in Europe will be so pleased that the US is even joining the treaty, when the US says they need to clamp down harder on China and India, people will. This could crush their economy, thus protecting America. Shame their isn't much anyone can do about it.

Also, England nearly beat Brazil on Friday. Now, I am not a expert in football, my experience stretches to a few goes on CM4, however, England have been in a very bad losing streak recently. Last match, Beckham was put back on the pitch, and we were beating the best team in the world, and not by a fluky goal either. Then, we take Beckham off, and Brazil score. Seems a little bit of a no brainer. Even if Beckham isn't that good, he clearly brings strength to the rest of the team. He is an idol and should be on the pitch for every England game. None the less, a draw against Brazil is a pretty good result in my books.

Finally, as it is the 40th anniversary of Sgt Peppers, BBC have done a special show with modern bands performing some of the classic tracks using the same equipment. The Fray and Kaiser Chiefs were both bands that performed excellently. Other bands include The Magic Numbers and Brian May. You can catch this until next Saturday on listen again here on the BBC (You need to be a UK/ROI inhabitant to listen [I think]) The second part will be aired on BBC Radio 2, Saturday, 8PM