Umm, Fable 3?

Long term readers of this blog will know I am a massive fan of the Fable series. While many people did not like Fable 2, I have written at length about how I thought it was a truly fantastic game (that said, looking back through my posts, I have written considerably less than I remember writing... maybe I should do a look back at some point...)

So your probably wondering why there has been no coverage of Fable 3. The sad truth of it is I haven't played it. My excuse is legitamate, I am at university and do not have a 360. As a result, I am saving it until Christmas (where I will be back at home). I am currently avoiding all press and reviews on the game, so I have no idea how it is being received. Believe me, when I get to play it, I will be blogging about it.

On a simmilar note, I will eventually write my review for Civilization 5 but my life has been a bit hectic for the past month.

Stop the Press: Correction

I have just been alerted to a factual error in my (very) recent review of Blue Toad Investigation Files for the PS3. I have updated the review with the correct information, but in the interest of on-line journalistic integrity please find the updates summaries here along with my apologies at the error.

I initially stated that one episode would cost £6.29 and that all six would be £9.99. This is not the case. Episodes 1 and 2 will cost £9.99. Episode 3 is currently free. Episode 4, 5 & 6 will also be bundled for £9.99. All six can be purchased for £19.98. See my updated review.

On a totally unrelated note, I forgot to mention that John Cleese, from Monty Python and Fawlty Towers will be performing for Fable 3. How awesome is that?

Posting hiatus is over

I know it is early than I said it would be. However, I had to end the posting hiatus prematurely for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I have written my Fable 2: See the Future impressions and can see no real reason for keeping them from you! As a sneak preview (I'll be posting it tomorrow) I really enjoyed it, but it didn't have a moral decision, which I felt was odd at best.

Secondly, THQ have just granted me a review copy of Red Faction: Guerrilla (!) which, while I haven't covered before, does look very cool (see video below). Also, it looks like it has a Team Fortress 2 style online, which, given how much I am enjoying that, should be good to see. Anyway, as I am being given a copy of this game, I feel somewhat obliged to review it around the time when it was released. The review embargo is until the 5th of June, so expect the review some time around then.



Also, as you may have gathered, I have the Orange Box. Steam were selling it at the outrageous price of £5, so I couldn't refuse. And what a package! I can't work out which game I like most. I have the Cinematic Mod for Half-Life 2 and I am loving every second of this beautifully well paced first person shooter, more than any other FPS ever (except maybe Metroid Prime, but that isn't a real shooter). Then there is Portal, which I am going to devote a whole post to just expressing my shear love for the game. And then there is Team Fortress Two, which was recently patched to include some really cool maps (it's like Steam love me). The whole game is that amazingly balanced online experience that hasn't got old yet.

Talking of free maps, Relic have added more maps and even a new game mode to Dawn of War 2. The game goes from strength to strength, with the 2v2 mode adding even more strategy to the game, but I'll be talking more about that too.

And I sold out and got both map packs for Halo 3. I haven't really played much of Legendary, but I have made a map that I am pretty pleased with in Sandbox (I'll probably be posting about it on my game development blog). I really got it as I was going to have points left over from Fable, and I wanted Sandbox, so I just got it all so I could play it online.

Oh yes, and the small point that E3 is coming and I best get my predictions in early. And guessing Forza 3 doesn't count as a prediction, it's like "predicting" that the sun will rise tomorrow, it's all but guaranteed.

Anyway, hope all is well with everyone. I am 3/5s of my way through my exams, I am addicted to Twitter and the weather was fantastic, until today.

Posting hiatus

Well you will have probably noticed posts seems to have dried up. To avoid the situation which happened last year I am posting an official hiatus notice. Due to exams, posting on this blog, (and my game development blog) will halt. Posting will resume on June 15th with a post about the Fable 2 DLC.

In the mean time, I will leave you with some links.

Firstly, a personal shout out. I mentioned my game development blog, which I am pleased to report has successfully taken off (as in, past the first two posts, which so many of my other blogs didn't). Better yet, it has got a couple of posts about Frozen Kangaroo, the real time strategy game I am working on. Most recently, about how the nuclear weapons will function.

Secondly, I am really enjoying the Three Moves Ahead podcast from Flash of Steel. If you want a taster of what the podcast is like, my favourite one was about symettry and asymettry in games. The podcast is well worth a subscribe because it combines genuinely interesting discussion about games design with some funny personalities. Better yet, it doesn't just focus on the latest game release.

Finally, an odd link. I am linking to this site primarily so that it can be found by Google. It is a website I designed (email me @ thekileyenator@gmail.com if you fancy one for yourself) and so I need Google to index it. However, if you are looking for plants in your work place, and you are based the home counties, this is the site to go to -Renaissance Plants

Blog Update

Well I hope everyone enjoyed the (long) review for Dawn of War 2. I really can't stress enough how fun I found it. I stand by my positive opinion of the campaign, despite everyone else seeming to disagree with me (Tom Chick, Gamespot).

Also, sometime mid next week I will be posting an interview with the newly created Bonfire Studios which was one of the two companies to have emerged from the ashes (no pun intended) of Ensemble Studios. The other studio was Robot Entertainment. I've sent my questions off and I should get the replies on Monday, I expect to have the whole thing posted by Wednesday, so check back then.

Also, I have been putting a lot of time in to Sins of a Solar Empire, late I know! Anyway, I just got to the bit where it lives up to everything it promises. I must have had about 40 ships (and was no where near the cap) my two allies must have had 60 each and the enemy had 50 or so. With a bit of ping spamming on my part, I engineered a huge pitched battle between these two forces. It was the most awesome space battle I have ever seen, beating even the intro to Star Wars III. Part of the problem I have been having up till now is not really understanding anything. In fact, the reason I was so far short of the cap was because I only today found out how to increase it! There are a number of game design topics in this game, which I will be posting about on my other blog, Bot Work Studios. However, I hope to be putting some gamer impressions up here as well.

I downloaded the demo for Empire: Total War and as of yet, have not had too much time to play on it. This is largely down to the atrocious loading screens. It must have been loading for a good 10 minutes. While my computer is not quite state of the art, it can easily run Dawn of War 2 on Ultra with a rock steady frame rate, so it is hardly under powered. When it did eventually load, it was too late for me to work out how you play it without a user interface(!). I hope to put some more time in to over the coming week. I'm too much of a fan of the series to let a little loading put me off; Rome: Total War was bad on my old computer, and that is still one of my favourite games of all time.

Remember to check back on Wednesday for the interview with Bonfire Studios!

Free Radical bought by Crytec

Last year, Free Radical (Time Splitters) went in to administration. I, along with many others, was both shocked and upset, I was looking forward to Time Splitters 4, scheduled for this year. It was rumoured there were a number of third parties looking to buy in. However, it was not until earlier this month that it was revealed who was going to take them on.

And I must admit, I was surprised to find it was Crytec, most well known for Crysis. If I had to think of two first person shooters that were as different in style and execution as possible, it would probably be these two! Crysis is ultra-serious with incredibly realistic graphics and physics, a clichéd, with no tongue in cheek humour, action story. Time splitters has a weird, goofy, genuinely funny script, cartoony graphics, some of the worst physics you will ever come across and a monkey gun.

Can it work? I am not convinced. With the economic climate, and that FR was rescued from administration, Crytec may not be willing to fund a FPS that is less serious (as it may be considered more risky, just compare the sales of Time Spiltters with Halo or even Cyrsis itself). On the other hand, it could be absolutely awesome. It depends on whether the Cryengine can handle cartoony graphics as well as it can handle real graphics, and whether Crytec let FR run with their crazy monkey schemes!

I played the Halo Wars demo, so expect some first impressions coming soon. On top of which, some very exciting VG news:

While I am not getting my hopes up just yet, I think I may have secured a review copy of Dawn of War 2. As a result, I will be getting my act together and actually witting the review on time! The review cannot be posted before the 20th, but I aim to have it released exactly as the embargo is listed. Don't worry, I won't let it get to my journalistic integrity! But, however I score it, I want to say a big thank you to THQ, and if the beta is anything to go by, I am sure it will be awesome.

Blog Update - Walking in a winter wonder land

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, despite having much to post about (Resident Evil 5 and Dawn of War 2 beta/demo's to come). The main reason is this weekend I took part in an event called the "Global Game Jam". You can read all about it on my other blog.

Another thing that may have got in the way of my posting is the incredible snow! Normally, when their is snow, us British tend to make quite a fuss over what would, in other countries, be described as "light". This time, it is different. We had about 9" of lush, thick, soft snow, and it is still hear some 3 days on! Yes, maybe we did overreact by having schools closed for the duration of those three days - but hey, this only happens every 20 years. To all the people who are complaining about people "skyving off" because of the snow (*cough* Borris Johnson *cough*) lighten up a little bit. This does not happen often enough to be a serious disruption to anything, so just go out and enjoy yourself!
Check out the bench! I spent Monday and Tuesday morning sledging and the afternoons warming up by the fire (my Xbox 360) I hope that if you did get snow, you were able to enjoy it also.

Also, for those who read my review of Braid early today, I have now completed two worlds (first world and the third world) and have discovered that more content becomes available once you do every world. I forgot to include scores and such that you normally find in my reviews as I only decided to make it a review when I finished it and came to tagging it up. On the other hand, how helpful are scores? The question you want answered is, should I buy it? Post a comment if you have oppinions on scoring games using arbiatary systems (oh yeah, make a simple concept sound a lot more in inteligent!)

I am going to write impressions on both the Dawn of War 2 beta and Resident Evil 5 demo tonight. As I don't want content released earlier today (Braid review) to get lost and then there to be a drought of content, I will have scheduled publications of them over the next 3 days at 7PM (Dawn of War 2 on Friday, Resi Evil on Saturday) so make sure to check back then.

But first, a quick rant. The "Multiplayer beta" of Dawn of War 2, as much as I am loving it, IS NOT A BETA. For one, the game went gold (ie. into production) before the beta was released. Unless they are trying to sell a half finished game that will require instant patching, the game is not in a beta stage. Beta stage means it is still being tested! I don't want to buy a half finished game and then have to patch it.

The truth, my cynical mind tells me, is a little different. Yes, the game probably will need to be patched (even the internet and widespread broadband comes with it's curses) the reason they call it a beta is to follow a new trend. CoD 5 also did this. Ever since Halo 3 did an actual online beta, games have been using it as the new buzz word for "early demo". It makes players feel like they are getting involved in the game developement and it means that people can say "oh, it's only the beta, the actual thing will be much better", providing a fallback for the developer. This is simply not the case, if you don't like the "beta", you won't like the game, the disks are already being burnt with that on. It isn't like in the beta they are supplying you with an old copy of the game to see if you can spot the improvements they have already made.

Ok rant over, check back on Friday for my opinon of the so called beta. If you liked Dawn of War, you will probably want to check this out first before commiting to the game. It is very different (read: barely 4X). Check back Friday to see why I think it is a good different.

It's Gone Gold

Fable 2 has gone gold. The game I am most looking forward to this year has gone gold. Come October 24th, I will be do something big for the blog, maybe a minute by minute impressions like I did with Metroid Prime 3. Or maybe something EVEN bigger.

Fable 1 was one of my all time classics on the original Xbox, it was one of the 3 games that I keep coming back to (Mercanries and Chaos Theory is the answer to your question)

I will be playing Co-op with my friend probably day 2, after I have made an awesome unbeatable character! Fable 2 will be coming out on the 24th October (32 days) or the 21st if you are in America. However, I am planning on wandering over to Lionhead on the 21st to see if I can't barter a copy off them!

Hopefully, Gamespot will have a review up soonish, so looking forward to that.

In other news, I will be reviewing Spore this weekend, so stay tuned for that. It is a really difficult game to review, so it may be another collosal review like Civ (sorry everyone) I am really going to work on cutting it down. It will be out Sunday at 2PM (BST)

Blog Update

OK, I am going to have to post a short post now and then post E3 stuff after I get back from France (for the third time!)

Tomorrow, I set off for France by Eurostar with my friend. So I will be away again, then I get my GCSEs on the 21st then back to school in September. I have holiday snaps, but have not got round to putting them on Picasa, so tough if you were the slightest bit interested.

Personal update out the way, what gaming stuff do I have. That's what you were thinking. I got STALKER. I wanted to get it when it first came out, but it wouldn't run or fit on my old computer. So, having got a new computer, I thought great. Got it for my birthday. It doesn't work on my brand new straight out of the box £500 computer. The most bizzare problem. The disk works in other computers (A vista and my old computer) and my disk drive can read other DVDs. However, when I put the Stalker disk in, it groans for a few minutes then says "Please Insert Disk". A long (and possibly very expensive) phone call to Dell has not resolved it yet. In the mean time, I persuaded (read bullied) my Mum in to letting me install it on her laptop (a Vista XPS). It is a cracking game, difficult with survival a key element. You can't just go running and gunning, a) because you do not have the ammo and b) you have not the got the health or the arms to ever do it and live to tell your Stalking buddies about it. Besides, you also must fight the enviroment, which just refuses to lay down and die. I have not got very far, but I am so far loving every minute. Although, I am very relectutant to drop anything so I am constantly carrying too much causing my character to tire quicker.

While on my French exchange I got the chance to play on Gears of War (which I have played on before, but not to this extent) and it reminded me why it was such a fantastic game. It wasn't the bloody chainsaw gore (although that probably helped) but the fact the campaign is so damn amazing. It never ceases to be like a film. There is so much untold depth once you start turning the difficulty up and you can no longer run and chainsaw. The last act was my favourite, as when you are battling your way up the train, that is Gears of War at is's best. Cover, shoot, psuh forward and so on. As I result, I am now super looking forward to Gears of War 2.

Also got the chance to play on 2 less good games. Firstly, Vegas. Maybe because it is older than I think, but this game looked terrible. The models for the characters looked great, but then the buildings and surrondings looked terrible. Sometimes there would be a physics engine, other times everything would be brittle as a brick. The cover system, on the plus side, did allow you to feel very proffesinal. But, for the most part it was decidedly average.

Lost Planet was weirdly bad. Like, who would have a dead zone anyway. Ceartainly not when you are controling with joy sticks. For the un-initaited, the dead zone is an area in the middle of the screen where the character does not turn when the cross hair is moving about there. This feels slugging (which when on a 360 controller is really bad) and this was after Halo, so there really is no excuse. The game also looked terrible, and had possibly the worst intro level. You were fighting this boss, it wasn't hard, but if anything touched you, you died. No health. Randomly frustrating as there was little you could do except keep moving to the bit where you could beat it. On top of which, it had some of the worst acting/story line I have ever seen. Your body is found in one of these armoured suit things called VS. Then the character who finds you goes, with his tongue no where near his cheek, "If only there was someone who could pilot the VS" I laughed out loud. I don't think this was the intention.

Short update for now, but I am going to be writting one massive rant about Nintendo (they are slipping, fastly, out of my good books) a quick analysis of the console war as it stands at the moment, and my offical review of Brawl. This is going to be like my Halo 2 review, so Nintendo fanboys, watch out. Still not settled on the score, but as a sneak preview, I am torn between 7 and 9. Nothing in between.

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Now playing: Blondie - Picture This
via FoxyTunes
Enjoy the rest of your summer/winter (if you are getting as bad weather as me at the momement.

Pre-3, Brawl Tourney and Other News

Well, I am going to France this weekend until next week, so it is looking like I am going to miss E3 this year, which is a shame as I was looking forward to finding out what Nintendo had to say. And Microsoft and Sony of course. Obviously, I will catch up on it when I get back, but here are my predictions for the big 3.

Nintendo:
I wish I knew. Seriously, they said they had 3 big announcements a while back, and we haven't heard anything since. It could be anything. I think we will hear about additional storage and voice chat, but on the game front, people are saying it could be Star Fox, Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing (that is where my money is) or perhaps a new FPS IP(Intellectual Property). (Talking of which, read below if you are interested in FPS's on the Wii... ) Hopefully there will be some news about the Forces Unleashed as well...

Micrsoft:
Big long speech about how amazing the 360 is. Then a big old price drop about the aforementioned amazing 360. Then they will talk about all the great games coming out. Namely Fable 2, Gears of War 2 (that's a big one) Fallout 3, EndWar, I could keep listing to be honest. Then they could shock everyone and announce a hand-held console. Or they might not.

Sony:
Brag about Blu-Ray, talk about MGS sales, have a big old demonstration of LittleBig planet, mention Home, drop the price significantly, again, talk about PSP 2. Which will have motion sensing, mutli-point touch screen and hey, maybe even 2 screens.

What am I looking forward to? Mainly Fable 2, Fallout 3 and Forces Unleashed, and a FPS that I will talk about below. Obviously, should be good to see Gears 2, but I think I know what to expect from that. I am also looking forward to what Nintendo's big announcements are going to be.

What is this FPS I have been talking about then? It goes by the name Conduit and it is not being released on the PS2, making it a Wii game built for the Wii. So obviously, this means better graphics, but when the developers start to say things like

"feels a lot more like they're making a 360/PS3 title than a Wii title"

It is difficult not to get excited. And then they release gameplay footage:

It's damn near impossible. And there will be a playable demo at E3.This, in their words, will revolutionize development for the Wii. 16 player online is the target, they also said they have taken inspiration from the best parts of uber successful shooters, like Halo, hopefully that means match making, party options, playlists, everything. The best part is, they are working with Nintendo to bring the best online experience possible. Stay tuned for more details.

A couple of posts ago I mentioned doing a massive Brawl tourney. Now the aim is to get 64 or 128 people signed up. Let me explain what this tourney is about:

I had this idea ages back when Brawl was coming out in the US, it has now finally arrived in the UK, so now is the time to do it.

It is basically a giant online tournament. We would get as many people as possible (64 or maybe even 128) and set out fixtures for each of the games. All of the games would abide by some set rules. We make sure that everyone can make the dates they need to at the start for the first round, then organise the next round based on who gets through.

Here is where it gets cool however. The matches would be Stock, but with a time limit of 3 minutes. Then, at the start, the most well equipped person to do this, films the match (saving the replay and then recording it with whatever means they have) Now while I know this is a Nintendo forum, I am assuming that some of you have played Halo 3. It would be similar to the service that Bungie offer. Each game would be recorded with the replay available, screen shots taken by the participants and all the data that is presented at the end of the match.

So like Halo, each match would have a page with all this information. Then each registered player would have a page which includes all of their stats (ie. total damage done over the whole tourney) as well as their screen shots, maybe some information about them and there current status in the tourney.

So obviously, this is going to need loads of people (64/128) so if you are interested, there is almost definitely space. You can sign up with a comment on this page (include your Brawl Code and Wii code), or on this forum or you can email me @thekileyenator@gmail.com

By pooling all my brawl contacts and some eariler registers, I have got a total 7 people, so we still have a long way to go, but I do believe this can happen.

And We Are Back

After a very long hiatus, Veteran Gamer is back. I have finished my GCSEs, I have Brawl (will post online code soon) I have a new computer, I have Xbox Live Gold, I have played the Civ Rev demo, development for FK has started and I love XNA.

Well during my break, I have lost all my readers, but hopefully I can claw them back. Until I have set up the Frozen Kangaroo website, some of the posts on this blog will be about that. I will be discussing XNA (which I love, have I mentioned that?), game design issues and hopefully revealing some art work.

Brawl is great! It might just be Meelee online, the subspace emissary may be poorly designed, the online may be lacking in featuers, but the tried and true gameplay will keep you coming back for more. However, SSBB is not out of the woods yet, like Halo 2, I am going to heavily critise a game despite knownig I will be playing on it for many years to come!

I am going to be trying to organise a BIG online tourney for Brawl, more details of that and how to sign up to come later when I have discussed it with a couple of other people to see if it can happen.

Is anyone else also hugely dissapointed with the weather at the moment? It just isn't acceptable.

Gaming news I should have posted about:
MGS has multiple cut scense that are 1h30+. I.e. the length of a feature length film
Creature Creator was released to get people excited for Spore; you have to buy it, curses to EA.
And probably lots else which I can't remember.

On the plus side, I may be getting a promo copy of Wall E curtosey of THQ, so it will be interesting to check that out. Yes, it is a game of a film, but just look how cute it is! I will be reviewing, if at all, the Xbox 360 version.

Upcoming posts:

• Super Smash Bro's Rant
• Super Smash Bro's Review
• Racing Games - What They Need to Do
• Exclusive details about FK

I hope you are all well and everything and having a lovely summer. Oh wait, you haven't finished!

April Fools!

Happy April Fools everybody! Unfortunately, I have not prepared something really cool to trick you all with, however, there are a couple of good ones I have seen. IGN's trailer for a Legend of Zelda movie is probably the best, Gamespots is amusing, I actually feel for Vic Davies one and was about to post a congratulations when I noticed Googles! If you have seen or heard of any good ones, please leave them as a comment.

I can't think of any major news item for this month, it being March. However, I have started the GDD for Frozen Kangaroo so, so far, it is going to plan. This month is my last full month at school (if you can call it full, I have a sort of easter holiday in a weeks time for 2 weeks) and then I go on study leave. During that time I will be revising, however, after June 12th, I will be free until September so expect news, reviews previews and Brawl.

As I mentioned, Fable 2 has an approximate release date of this autumn. The main thing to watch out for this month is GTA. In May there is WiiWare (complete with Gravitronix and Platachen Twist and Paint) and, with any luck, Super Smash Bro's Brawl.

Possibly the biggest news is I have a long term "loan" of one of my most favourite games I have never owned. The Elder Scrolls Oblivion. I was a bit worried that I would be under-amazed by the game as it came out some time ago, but it is as impressive as it was then. I am currently a high ranking member of the Mage's Guild, a warrior in the arena and not too far in to the main quest and I am loving it. I have a friend who got it at a similar time to me, he is being evil, having killed something like 100 people! There is so much to do that you could ignore trice the lack of polish the game has. And, if I am honest, there are unpolished elements, Co-Op would have been nice and some times the draw distance and frame rate is down right shoddy, but that doesn't change the fact that 2 years down the road it is still a very ambitious and highly impressive game.

For my Op-Ed tonight, I will be discussing what makes a "special" game and why they make me, at least, tingle just thinking about them. I will be using Oblivion, Metroid Prime and Civilization as case studies.

Blog Update For February

Brawl has a release date! The 6th of June is supposedly the release date for Super Smash Bro's Brawl in Europe. On Gamespot, this is the listed release date, although, having said that, there has been no such mention on the Dojo. Furthermore, this is some what undermined by Game's website listing the release date as the 1st of May and Nintendo, the publisher of Brawl, refusing to confirm any of these release dates. Personally, I think it will come out 6th June, but that date is not set in stone just yet. It will probably be confirmed after the American release date (March24th)

Also, you will have noticed I have slightly spruced up the design. I hope you like the improvements. The next couple of months I will be working to put the Podcast together and hopeful securing some interviews for the blog. Then the focus will switch to the Flash Media Player - to play said podcasts and videos. Finally, when that is all done, I will hopefully have a proper server and I will build a forum. If you would like to secure your desired user name, because there will be so much demand, I will be setting up a form on the forum page in the coming months. Please do, as it will give me an idea of the no. of users. All you will need to do is write down your desired user name and your email address so I can contact you when the forum is being built.

GDC was this month. There was a very interesting video about Fable Two presented by Peter Molyneux. It really made me want to dig up my copy of Fable. It was a shame, as being English, no one got any of his ironic jokes, however, I still enjoyed it. One highlight was when he went to visit his husband and child (yes, he was female and had to be pregnant - [he apologised for there being no labour mini game) When he arrived, his child ran up to him and was like "Hey Mummy, your home!" Whereas, when he went up to his husband, he was cross that he had left him for so long. Then, his co-op partner just shot his husband. Peter then explained how that was it, game over for his husband. He could not and would not come back. When he went away adventuring, his child would be taken in to an orphanage. I may possibly be doing a 3 part feature, one a preview on F2, one discussing the Good/Bad decisions that make the heart of Fable and a third on something else.

Also, there was a video for the new Unreal Engine. Personal highlight was the "Block of meat we built" This was to demonstrate the soft body physics engine the new build will feature. Also, there were some cool water effects. The engine was demoed with the Gears of War protagonist. Talking of Gears of War, I purchased a copy for a friend on Ebay, so, if it turns up on Wednesday, I will be able to play on it for that evening.

Oh yes, there was a , albeit brief, trailer of Gears of War. Very cool and well worth checking out (All links are at the bottom of the post)

GDC, as good as it is now, will, like E3, change. This is because it is meant to be an academic event and, following the collapse of E3, it has become much more commercialised. I feel this is good, as I don't want another E3, however, the way they are securing this future is by banning all non-full time journalists. Meaning - I can't go.

Also, Civilization Revolutions has been put on indefinite hold for the Wii (not for the 360 or the PS3) This usually means cancelled, which will be a shame as the Wii is the console most suited to this title.

EA Bought 2K this month. 2K being the publisher of Civilization. While Sid doesn't seem to be too fussed, I am worried as EA has a habit of milking cows till they bleed, and even then. I can't count on all my fingers and toes the number of Sims titles there have been, for example. We will have to see where this partnership goes, because, between the two of them, they have quite a lot of every market cornered. The last big publisher is THQ and Sega maybe. Oh, and Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, but they don't count.

Op-Ed Article: Graphics Galore (title pending) I will be looking at the supposed "HD Era" and how good good graphics actually are. Can they be the icing on a cake or make up on a elephant? You will have to read tomorrow to find out.

Links

• UK Brawl Release Date (GS)
• UK Brawl Release Date(Game)
• Fable 2 Video (GS)
• Unreal Engine 2 (GS)
• Gears of War 2 Trailer(GS)
• Sid Meier Interview
  

Band Mashups

I just got a press release from THQ and this quote was too good to miss:

"Fighting with a sniper violin or flamethrower guitar is something gamers should definitely look forward to."

Apart from the fact this game will be rubbish and, another cheap Wii game, this game also perfectly sums up the decay in the video game world. However, I now WANT to see how a game with "Sniper Violins" can ever work. You can read the full press release here.

In other news, my Live trial has run out, so I should now be able to increase productivity, getting reviews of Galaxy, Enter the Matrix, Rock Start Presents Table Tennis, Halo 3 and Forza. I also have plans for the website how I can make it look a little more, well, snazzy.

Warning: Xbox Live is not a replacement for real life

The new site is online (as you will have noticed) however, it sucks (as you will have noticed) This was because, largely, I got an Xbox 360 which I have been playing quite a bit. I had planned to add the finishing touches between Christmas and New Year...which wasn't happening. So I decided to launch the bare bones site, but don't worry, upgrades will be coming at the end of this month. However, the site isn't just a fresh look, oh no, it is an entire change. This site will now provide:

• Podcast - This will take place on the last day of each month and (fingers crossed) the first one will be January 31st(toes crossed). Also, I should have two friends helping me host it, so you can look forward to hearing them for the first time. For those who are worried, this will not be on Blog Talk Radio as the quality was unacceptable and I never got any live listeners.
  
• News in Summary - Also at the end of each month, I will do a round up of the major news that month. This will include both topics I have covered, and ones I didn't have enough to write a whole post about (kind of like my Nintendo update a while back) It will also serve as my blog update, giving you news relating to this blog including updates to the website etc.
  
• Op-Ed - Op-Ed is a type of article that isn't simply reporting facts or even stating an opinion on a particular news story. It is a much more general article about, for example, game development. While I am not clever (on interesting) enough to do a whole blog dedicated to such articles, I will be doing one at the start of every month. Any interesting comments will then be read out on the Podcast at the end. If you are still unsure about what an Op(posit)-Ed(itorial) article is, read this blog, all his articles are Op-Eds'
• Indie Special - Every 3 months, I will cover a Indie developed game, ie. one not made by a huge publisher but created by a self employed hobbyist. This "special" will include a review of their game and an interview with the developer. If you are an Indie developer and you are looking for some extra publicity, please leave a comment and I will get back to you ASAP.

If anyone else has any suggestions for regular features, please leave a comment.

I have Halo 3, Forza Motorsport 2 and for a short time, Viva Piñata. Obviously reviews coming your way for the first two before the end of January, along with my Corruption review and hopefully my Galaxy review. All I can say about Halo is, wow the campaign is short. I interspersed playing on the campaign with both Forge and Forza and still completed it in like 4 days or something. On the plus side, there is only one level that reminded me of Halo 2 and most of the rest of the game was spectacular fun.

I also have Xbox Live (trial) If you want to add me, my name is, some what randomly, thktestaccount. When I come to buy Live subscription, it will change to thk123, so I personally recommend waiting, but if you really are that desperate! So what's Live like? Well after a very dodgy start, Live is amazing. It is loads of fun when you get in to a game and get talking to all your team and Big Team Battles are as amazing as ever. Plus, to make up for the Live down time, Microsoft are giving away a free Arcade game (yet to be announced)

Finally, while at a sleep over the other day, I managed, finally, to play on Chaos Theory's online portion. Before I played on it, I was really looking forward to it, it looked amazingly cool. If you haven't heard about it, I suggest looking up the concept in detail, but basically, one team plays as spies, who are under equipped and must sneak in to the map, locate and hold 3 different objectives to win. The other team, the Mercs, have loads of weapons but can't climb on stuff or jump, which makes an interesting and potentially well balanced sides. Unfortunately, and it may just be because I was unlucky, but the maps felt way to big for four players, most people played death match, where the spies are massively under powered and the Mercs never use any of the camera equipment they just flick lights on and go looking. Great idea, it is a shame the execution isn't so great. I will try it again at some point, but at the moment I am kind of obsessed with Forza and Halo.

Game of the Year Decided

Gamespot has announced the winners of all its various categories, you can see what I thought of the readers votes here

Most Surprisingly good game
I am pleased to say that my vote, Medal of Honour 2:Heroes, is also what Gamespot choose.

Best Graphics, Artistic
I am pleased to say that GS also went with me on this one, despite the readers voting, and went with Galaxy for the Wii!

Best Mutliplayer Game
This was always going to be a close one between Halo and CoD, personally I think that Halo has the slight edge. Gamespot said: Rock Band..?

Most Improved Sequel

This was always going to be a close one. It went to Medal of Honour, once again, I do agree, because the last one was appalling.

Best Use of a Control Scheme
This has to go to a Wii game, doesn't it? The voters went for Assassins Creed, which is absurd. Gamespot went for Zelda Phantom Hourglass, which is fair enough, the sword fighting is really quite good.

Most Disappointing Delay
This went to GTA, although personally it had to be Brawl for me.

Best 360 Game
Goes to Call of Duty. From this, I guess that this will also be Game of the Year, as 360 had a very good year.

GAME OF THE YEAR
How wrong could I be, Galaxy WINS Game of the Year. I knew it was amazing, but wow. Congrats Ninty, now you have sold hundreds of consoles and made great games.

On a side note, I got money for a 360, and so BOUGHT ONE!!! I have Halo 3, Forza 2, PES 06 and Viva Pinata (those last two I am going to sell) Loving every minute of it. Will bring you reviews of all them and more in the new year. On Veteran Gamers new site. Still on for launching this Jan 1st, albeit with slightly less features than originally planned.

Guitaur Hero and Medal of Honor Heroes

OK, so I got the chance to play on the new Guitar Hero last Monday. I have never been a fan of GH, despite never having played on it, I thought the concept lame and that people who played on it should just learn real guitar. Since Monday, I have made a U-Turn. The game is very different from playing a guitar, and in some ways much harder. It started off with me just watching the Shop Assistant playing it, then he asked me if I wanted a go. Now, I don't want to be arrogant, but when it comes to new games, I am usually quite quick at picking it up and not being rubbish. I may never master a game, but I usually reach an acceptable level. To say it was embarrassing would be the understatement of the year. I was playing on the easiest difficulty and I barley hit any notes. After 3 songs, I couldn't bear the embarrassment and thanked the assistant and walked away, to a easy section. However, as I walked home, I wanted to play GH. I wanted to beat it. That feeling hasn't stopped growing. I am eagerly awaiting my next opportunity to play this. However, despite wanting it loads, its price is just too big for me to take the leap just yet. On a side note, I don't like making excuses, but I may have been rubbish because there was no sound, which is quite important in a rhythm game I think. Another side note is the graphics were deeply uninspiring. While the game might not need any graphical flare, I was playing the 360 version and there were some serious aliasing issues (jagged edges)

The bad news is quite unexpected. The UK release date of Medal of Honor 2: Heroes for the Wii has been pushed back to the end of January. This literally doesn't make any sense as the game is out in the US. Still there isn't much I can do. I do intend to email them, so they can at least explain, in the mean time, it may mean I can get Galaxy.

You can see the banner at the top in full size here...

Blog Update

Had my final science core exam today. It was fine, but very strange. Full of satire and politics. Like there was one question that asked about a spy who had been poisoned by radioactive stuff. That Russian-spy-whose-name-I-can't-spell anyone? Another was "What do you think the real reason super market chains support green" and the answer was "To draw in more customers" What was also weird was some of the questions, which were multiple choice on a science paper, were a matter of opinion and had more than one technically correct answer. Well, its all sent of now, so it doesn't matter. I am coming up to my mocks, so posts may remain a bit sparse.

I managed to get a game on Assassins Creed at my great friends house. The tutorial is so long that I don't feel I have had enough time with the game to post a proper first impressions post, but here are my really initial impressions. The game, isn't the new Oblivion. Lets just get that out of the way. Once you clear that, the game is actually very good. It feels like a much improved version of Crackdown in that its technically stunning and you can jump miles. There are little bits of Oblivion, Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia too. The controls feel a little complicated and take some time getting used to, or at least I found that they did. However, the parkour feels great once you can do it. The animations are particularly fluid, which adds to the effect. Finally, the first time you turn up at Damascus, it literally takes your breath away. It is huge. More coming soon...

Read a surprisingly positive review for Links Crossbow Training, the game bundled with the Wii Zapper. Unfortunately, it will not be joining my list of things to get. This is mainly due to the fact I am hoping to get a 360 some time early next year! The bundle is £269 and comes with Halo 3 and Assassins Creed (although I am going to try and change it for Oblivion) To afford this, I am applying for a number of Christmas jobs, but fingers crossed, I should be able to get it. Also, you may be interested to know that the VG website (in progress) has gone under a complete make over. This time, the colour is white. . I have started the header, which you can see here (it looks better on my computer as I haven't properly optimized it yet) :

In the final banner, it will have Super Egg (in current header) holding a Wii Remote and 360 controller. On either side, it will have a number of well known video game characters, including Link, Samus, Mario, Master Chief and Solid Snake (Ed: Will this be delayed, bud um TISH) Also, at the start of all Media content (yes that's right, media content) there will be a small indent in which Super Egg takes out one of those video game characters in their style. For example, Master Chief will be standing there, a grenade will be chucked and the Egg will slice him with a power sword. Mario will be jumped on and will turn in to a shell. Obviously, they will look better in my head than they ever will in real life, but I intend to make them the best I can possibly do.

Christmas Shopping Guide Coming Soon...

Corruption Complete

I have finished Metroid Prime 3 for the Wii. It took about the same time as Metroid Prime 1, but no where near as challenging. Although I will be posting a full review some time before the end of the month, here are my thoughts upon completing the game. The game, overall, is very good. The controls are fantastic, the graphics are great, the worlds are varied and there are some interesting dynamics. However, there is a lot of unharnessed potential in this game. I will go in to more details in the review, but things like the space ship, the different planets and the controls feel like they could have been used a lot more before they would start to feel "used"

I am yet to find everything, however I am already on 85% (much higher than in MP1) and apparently there is this thing that shows where all the power ups are. So, I think this game is coming to an end. The new difficulty is said to be much harder, but a multiplayer mode feels strongly missing. Like I said, full review coming soon.

A few Wii games that I have been following have come out and the reviews released. Although I haven't had the opportunity to play on them yet, the reviews are very positive. The most notable of them is Super Mario Galaxy. I was always slightly sceptical about a 3D Mario game, having never played on M64 or Sunshine, however, with a GS score of 9.5, there has to be something good in it. Plus, there are 2D galaxies too! Am I going to get this? My brain says yes, however, I am currently planning to get a 360 soon after Christmas, so I am only going to be able to get one game.

So what is the other game that is in the contest. Medal of Honour 2: Heroes. What, a Medal of Honour game is competing with Mario?! Let me explain, I thought the controls in MP3 where amazing. Both IGN and GS say they are better in Heroes, due to the fact one can customise them indefinitely. On top of this, it has a, apparently, rock steady 32 player online mode. Something which is rare enough on the Wii.

Other games that sound amazing are Assassins Creed and Call of Duty 4. I admit I wasn't really sure what to expect from Assassins creed, but from what I have read, it sounds amazing. Parkour galore and apparently on a similar scale to Oblivion. Yet another game I need to get for my 360...

Call of Duty 4 I noticed at E3 and it literally blew my mind. I was on the edge of my seat, and I was watching a poorly streamed video of it, not even playing it. The campaign is said to be short, which is a shame as everything I have heard about it is a "woah" a minute. Still, the multiplayer is also meant to hold up to just a high quality.

I should be able to play on both of those games hopefully. I finally got the chance to play on a PS3 yesterday. Well, I say play, it hung, twice. I hope it was just the way the console was set up in the store, but it didn't exactly reflect great on the PS3. On the plus side, the controller does feel amazing. Either because it was wired or because it didn't have rumble it was very light. I love the new R2/L2 buttons and I still stand by my statement that the dual shock will always beat the Xbox controller. Shame the console isn't quite as good. Or the range of games. Or the price. You get the picture.

Metroid Prime Preview Channel is out [Blog Update]

It has finally been released in the UK, the Metroid Prime Preview Channel, previously only released in America, has just been released in the UK. It is so cool and I now can't wait for this game, now only 11 days and 17 hours away! Another video will be released on the 17th. Graphically, the game looks quite similar to Metroid Prime 1, however, it is worth bearing in mind that this video is streamed over the internet and also, even if they are only mildly better than MP1, they are still very good.

Talking of Metroid Prime 1, I am nearly finished. I am on the second to last boss fight at the moment. I must admit that I did cheat slightly as I looked up the locations of the Artifacts, but I was pretty much right before, I was just not doing the right thing. However, I will have the game and the review finished by the 25th October.

On the release day of Metroid Prime 3, I will being posting a post that I will update with "Live Impressions". Every so often (5 minutes or so) I will post a sentence or a picture from the game. So, if you are interested, make sure you are here at 9:30ish GMT

My Halo 3 first impressions are nearly finished and I will release that some time today or tomorrow. I am currently doing work experience at my old school, so that is why I haven't posted it before.

I have received many updates for my Wii recently, each time getting my hopes up that it will be the Metroid Preview channel. One of them allowed the Wii to support USB keyboards. I do not have a USB keyboard so was unable to test this, however it has much further reaching implications. Namely, that through the updates, support for other USB items can be released, for example a USB headset or external hard drive.