Sony E3 Press Conference Impressions.

Well, after this certain announcement I said I didn't need a PS3 anymore but maybe...just maybe....I was wrong. When you present what's sure to be a pretty boring financial rundown using Little Big Planet you know you're on to a winner.

Well...maybe.

To be honest I was a bit bored during most of the press conference, this this may be because they chose to concentrate a lot on other media content for the PS3. They also talked about the PS2 - which was a little surprising but Sony thinks it still has life left in it - and the PSP.

Resistance 2

A gameplay demo was shown with some big ass monster smashing up the building the player was running around in. It looks...well...average. I didn't play the first Resistance so I can't comment on it all that much but it didn't really wow me. The 8 player online co-op and 60 player online multiplayer matches, however, does sound amazingly cool.

Anyone played the original Resistance multiplayer? Let me know if it's any good.

Little Big Planet

As I said earlier Little Big Planet was used to create an interactive graph for the presentation. That very fact just shows how customisable LBP is and if anything would get me to buy a PS3 it would be this.

I can't wait to see some of the creations people make with this game. It's all about user-generated content these days.

Playstation Network (PSN)

PSN now has over 180 million downloads under its belt so there's no question over whether or not people are taking advantage of it. Sony talked a lot about content for PSN and it seems to be a pretty big deal in making the PS3 more of a general media device rather than just a games console.

Like Microsoft they've got deals with some of the big movie studios (such as MGM, Fox and - obviously - Sony Pictures) and the resulting movies should be available right now (in the US anyway). TV shows will be $1.99 per episode while movie rentals will be $2.99-5.99 and $9.99-14.99 for purchases. You don't have to wait for the entire TV show or movie to download as progressive downloading will allow you to watch while you download. Any TV or movie downloads can also be copied over to your PSP so you can watch your content on the move. Sounds good huh? Well I wish Europe would have as much content.

More content comes from Gran Turismo TV which lets you watch content from motoring shows around the world online. Since this includes the excellent Top Gear it's a pretty amazing line-up of content.

Life with Playstation will also be hitting soon, which will deliver real-time news straight to your PS3. I assume this is a little like the Wii News channel.

Finally Ratchett and Clank: Quest for Booty will be released as a downloadble game on PSN. It's going to offer around 3-4 hours of gameplay but apparently have all the humor and action of a normal Ratchett and Clank game.

Some more PSN games:

Crash Commando Fat Princess Flower Pain: Amusement Park Siren: Blood Curse Ragdoll and Kung-fu: Fists of Plastic Pixeljunk Eden

Sony thinks it's going to be the 'ultimate social experience'!

Playstation Home


There wasn't much of Home shown but it will be available to try at E3 so they'll be more information coming out soon. One thing it did show, however, is the unique game spaces in Home that have environments modeled after the settings of each respective game. You can also jump straight into the game from these environments.

Three of the spaces shown were Warhawk, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune and Resistance 2.

PSP.

Resistance Retribution (a short of filler between Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2), which is a third-person game, will be coming out for the PSP in Spring 2009. I'd like to say that i looks pretty decent for a PSP games but it's pointless because I know that PSP games can look damn good and this one is no exception. It's by the same guys who did the Syphon Filter games so I high hopes for it.

Other games include Patapon 2, Loco Roco 2, Lego Batman, Super Stardust: Portable, Valkyria Chronicles and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed amongst others.

More More More!

Apparently it's the year of the PS3!

DC Universe (an MMO)
Infamous (looks amazing. An anti-hero/superhero game in which you use electricity in a free roaming city)
Motorstorm: Pacific Rift
Quantam of Solace (Bond)
Ghostbusters Soulcalibur IV
God of War 3
The Agency (a spy MMO)
Killzone 2
Buzz Quiz TV
Singstar
Guitar Hero: World Tour
NBA 09: The Inside
Resident Evil 5
Mirror's Edge
Naruto: Ultimate Ninga Storm
Socom: Confrontation

Woah, there's a lot of games in this post.

Finally MAG (Massive Action Game...what an original name!) was unveiled. This game is a bit like Planetside as it allows massive battles of up to 256 players. To avoid massive confusion in these battles the game is squad-based allowing squads of 8 players each. This is combined with character growth (maybe a bit like Battlefield and Call of Duty 4) all taking place in one world.

That's it for the press conferences. I'll be posting more news from E3 in it's remaining two days.

The Sims 3 E3 Trailer

While this trailer for The Sims 3 may look like an episode of Laguna Beach I'm surprisingly looking forward to the game. You see, not only does the game allow your Sim's access to the entire town without those pesky loading screens (and the ability to see what's going on elsewhere at any moment) but it also deals with the problem of one family aging while the others stay frozen in time - something which has always annoyed me.

I'm the kind of guy who loves to create stories so The Sims franchise has always been a favourite of mine. Unlike other people I don't actually care about the constant expansion packs because, hey, it's new content and at least EA are continuing to support the game. Couple that with an excellent community with literally millions of creations and you can have endless fun! Although that endless fun is sometimes pretty mundane...

The Sims 3 E3 Trailer - YouTube.

Morning Coffee E3 Edition - July 15th 2008

E3 has begun and there's no shortage of news, so here's a round-up of some of my favourite links from the conference:

• As you're probably aware (you can't call yourself a gamer if you aren't!) Square Enix has announced Final Fantasy XIII will be released for the 360. MTV Multiplayer attended the Square Enix press conference where a Q&A session was held. Here are some of the questions and answers.
• Major Nelson discusses some of the new features of the planned Xbox Live update. These include; storing a game on the hard drive so it'll run smoother, the ability to purchase stuff on the Xbox Live marketplace from any web enabled device, and (YES!!!!!!!) 1680x1050 support through VGA and HDMI.
• Portal: Still Alive is coming to Xbox Live Arcade!
• Gamespy has an excellent Fallout 3 preview.
• ...and more on EA's Dead Space.
• If you missed it here's Gamespot's coverage of the EA press conference.
• ...and here's what Will Wright said about Spore at that very press conference.
• Gamespot has some impressions of the intriguing Xbox Live 'MMO' quiz game 1 vs 100 (we have a version of the TV show over here in the UK, done by the National Lottery).
• Sim Animal? Ok.....

Um, we'll finish on that last one. More news coming your way soon!

Morning Coffee - July 14th 2008

E3 kicks off today so they'll be tonnes of news coming out over the next few days and hopefully I'll have time to pick through it all. For now, here's this mornings links:

• Is writing about games a pleasure? Or are you worse off because you're approaching every game with a critical eye? It's an interesting observation that has always intrigued me. Julian Murdoch tells us his thoughts.
• Gamasutra asks if exclusivity is harming digital distribution.
• Why do scores matter so much to gamers?
• Ten things that don't suck about the game industry...apparently.
• How do you make James Bond less of a lover in a video game? It can't be done! IT CAN'T!!!

Damn, I'm tired. Hopefully Microsoft won't put me to sleep today.

Steampunk Second Life City.

You can say what you like about Second Life but you can't deny that it's flexibility allows its residents to come up with some incredible creations. I love the whole steampunk scene and this creation is staggeringly amazing.

I may actually visit this creation myself has it's been a while since I popped into the strange yet wonderful world of Second Life. You can visit yourself by following this link.

New Babbage - A Steampunk City in Second Life - YouTube (Via Wonderland).

Midway Goes All Retro With Midway Arcade.

Midway has returned to its roots and launched MidwayArcade.com, effectively jumping on the bandwagon of selling retro games these days (Xbox Live Arcade anyone?). This means that more than 25 of excellent Midway arcade classics are now available for purchase and play on your PC.

Some of the games include Spy Hunter (above), Rampage, Rootbeer Tapper (I have fond memories of playing this in a school IT class), APB and Joust. The games are going for $5 in packs of three so it's a fairly decent price considering how much similar titles can set you back on Xbox Live Arcade.

While the prices are admittedly cheap I don't see why they couldn't have just made them flash games supported by ad's. You could say that a few people may just shrug and go back to their emulators but the keyword is 'few'. Midway is bringing these games to the mainstream who have fond memories of such games but don't particularly care about emulators.

MidwayArcade.com

Morning Coffee - July 11th 2008

With Blogger's magical future posting feature these amazing links (because I only pick the best, of course!) will hit you in the wee morning when I may still be snoring in bed!

Speaking of coffee I remember when I had about 10 cups in one day due to working on a particularly tough university assignment. Let me tell you something, it's really not healthy!

Anyway, here's your links for this morning.

• Tom Francis of CVG boldly vistits three popular MMO's (Eve Online, City of Heroes and World of Warcraft) to see if one can actually find love in an MMO. Wait, there are girls on the Internet? Never!
• Kotaku predicts just what Sony has in store for us at E3 next week. E3 is sure looking pretty good this year.
• Ars Technica asks if free is the future of PC gaming. Apparently not in the US.
• We'll soon be controlling video games with our minds. This will most likely result in 14 year-old males touching the boobs of the women in Soulcalibur.
• There's a trailer out for the upcoming Max Payne film adaption. Thoughts?
• The Washington Post reports on post-it video game art appearing on the city office buildings. Awesome? Yes.
• Finally here's the Wiimote candy dispenser. Candy has never tasted so good (and I'm going to regret using the word 'candy').

That's your lot for this morning. I'm off to drink more coffee, so don't be surprised when I'm hyper posting later.

Rustlers Machinima Music Video Contest!

The wonderful guys over at Machinima.com (creating short films through video games) have finally taken notice of all of us over here in the UK. To celebrate the launch of their brand new UK site they're teaming up with Rustlers (always good for a quick snack) to offer this great competition.

All you need to do is to create a music video for one of Jonathan Coulton's (the guy responsible for the excellent Portal theme song 'Still Alive') songs, which you can download free of charge from here. For those of you with little creativity there also be a prize draw amongst those who sign-up to vote.

Prizes? I hear you cry! Well, first place will be awarded with an Area-51® m15x Alienware Laptop with Adobe Premiere Pro CS3. Second place will get an Sanyo Xacti DMX-HD2 Cam while the runners-up (ten of you) will get a copy of Jonathan Coulton's “Thing a Week” CD Box Set.

The competition is open to residents of the UK but I've been informed that non-uk residents can get someone in the UK to submit their entry for them.

Rustlers Machinima Music Video Contest - Machinima.com

Zombie Shooter.

Regular readers of this blog (if I have any) will know that I’m very fond of anything to do with zombies, be it films, books or games. I even compiled a post of a few zombie browser-based games you can play on your coffee break. So, it’s with great enthusiasm that I dived into yet another zombie game on the market, which is simply – but appropriately – titled Zombie Shooter.

Well, I say dived but I only touched the waters with my little toe. Due to being a poor graduate I could only play the free version of the game, which only allows you an hour to play around with it. However, an hour is more than enough to experience the massive slaughter of zombies that you will partake in. The best feature of all this slaughter? The blood and zombie corpses don't disappear and continually cover the level in gore! All in lovely isometric glory!

There are three modes in the game; your usual Campaign mode with some sort of story, a mode called Survive mode in which you stand off against increasing numbers of zombies and bosses, and finally a mode called Gun Stand which is like Survive mode but you take control of a fixed gun gunning down the constant hordes of zombies. In this final mode you often end up with something like this:


Told you it was gory, and you'll be knee deep in the undead before you know it.

Although the two modes are fun you'll quickly bore of them. It's the campaign mode where the real meat of the game lies and the few levels I played were pretty average. I say average because of the awful AI. Once the zombies and other enemies see you they'll track you across the level, but if you go through a door and down the corridor in the opposite direction they'll follow your movements while forgetting that there's a wall between the two of you. This results in the zombies constantly walking against walls and other objects, or the latter enemies shooting at walls. It's pretty dumb and it takes a lot of the fun away from what could be a pretty good game. I also suffered a glitch where I got stuck on a piece of scenery and had to restart the level.

With the AI problems it's an average game at the best. If these problems were sorted out I'd say that it probably is worth the £10 price tag, but I'm saying that without actually knowing how many levels the game has.

You can download the free demo or buy the game from its homepage.

Got a game you want me to take a look at? Email me or comment in the comments section!

Totem Destroyer.

Physics based games often annoy me. It's not the game themselves, in fact I always love novel ways of making use of physics in games (which is part of why I enjoy the Half-Life 2 games so much), it's the act of having to use your brain. Yes, I'm just lazy at heart.

Thankfully Totem Destroyer isn't too tough and it's actually pretty enjoyable through the act of having to discover just how you're going to get the golden totem down without breaking it. In each level you have to decide which block you want to destroy with your handy bomb. Each level gets increasingly more complex (although some of the complex levels are too obvious) but I often found that you can complete the level through sheer luck and frantic clicking. For example, the totem may luckily land on one of the indestructible black blocks which you honestly didn't mean to happen. Like me, however, you'll probably just shrug your shoulders and move on to the next level.

You can play the game over at the Armor Games site.

Got a game you want me to take a look at? Email me or comment in the comments section!

Dino Run.

Take a long loving look at the above image. Go on, I'll wait here....

......

Now doesn't that look peaceful and tranquil? Doesn't that yellow blob that passes for a dinosaur look cute? Yes? Good. Now take a look at the image below.


There, my friends, lies DOOM!!! MASSIVE BOILING BLACK DUSTY DOOM!!!! (which I'm apparently running into)

Phew, now that I've got that out of my system let's talk about the game that inspires such rage.

Dino Run's name tells you all you need to know. You're a dinosaur and you need to run, simple eh? Well, not when you're running away from certain extinction as evidenced by the picture above. Along the way you have to avoid various obstacles such as dumb dinosaurs who won't get out of your damn way.....yes, this made me hate dinosaurs! Fortunately your 'cute' little blob of a dinosaur can eat the smaller ones, which gives you points and some sort of DNA upgrade (although this only happened once to me) that allows you to upgrade your dinosaurs stats. You also have to save eggs so, obviously, you can continue your species even when the whole frickin world is covered in a thick black cloud choking the life out of the Earth. See, I don't see what the dinosaur has to gain from running away as it'll eventually catch up to the little dude.

Anyway, you go through the normal routine of levels and different environments while the impending doom gets increasingly faster behind you. For you social types there's also a multiplayer where you can race against friends or strangers.

It's a neat little game, but my poor skills prevented me from seeing the end. So, I hand the task to a good gamer to see if the little guy makes it. I have become attached to Rex, even if he is now burning to death at the bottom of a lava pit.

You can play the game here.

Got a game you want me to take a look at? Email me or comment in the comments section!

Garden Gnome Carnage.

If there was ever a game that could horrify the good old Gnome it's this one. I must first apologise for this senseless killing of elves (Gnomes must be related, somehow!) for no apparent reason but, unfortunately for the Gnomes kind, it's incredibly fun!

Garden Gnome Carnage is the name of this senseless elf killing machine and it's probably the first game I've played in which you play a building. Endless streams of elves run towards your building and their objective is to reach the chimney on the top of the building. Fortunately your defense is a garden gnome attached to a piece of string (I think the elves are trying to release him) which you can use to fling the elves away by moving the building with the cursor keys. You can also shake the nasty little elves off by shaking the building with the cursor keys, although the gnomes hiding under presents will carry on climbing.

Your garden gnome can also grab bricks from the building and toss them into the crowd of elves, causing small explosions of flying elves around the screen. The problem is, how do you replenish the bricks you've thrown? Well, this little service is provided by a black cat. Yup, a black cat. The cat will climb your building like the elves and, instead of being game over when he reaches the chimney, he'll fill your building back up with bricks! The annoying thing is that it's incredibly easy to knock the cat flying by mistake, although it is pretty funny.

Finally you're also under attack by elves flying on sleighs. If they reach the building they'll land on the roof and an elf will try to reach the chimney. Fortunately they can easily be knocked out of the sky (which is great when they land in the crowds of elves below) but presents will parachute out causing you even more problems. If it all gets too much (and believe me it will) then you can just bomb the little freaks with one of your airstrikes.

Garden Gnome Carnage is a strange and wacky little game and, eventually, it will quickly overwhelm you (you'll find out the meaning of the word 'carnage'). Racking up large combos is incredibly addictive and, like with me, it may actually suck a few hours out of your day.

You can download the game from here.

Got a game you want me to take a look at? Email me or comment in the comments section!

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Gameplay Footage.

I have little to say other than this game looks awesome. If you combine grappling hooks with explosions and the ability to approach a mission in any way you wish then you're on to a winner!

I've been looking forward to this game for a while now and this video just cements my excitement. You may wonder why I'm that bothered about Mercenaries 2 but I loved the first one and this one just looks ten times better. I just hope that destroying absolutely everything doesn't get too boring.

Roll on August!

'It Wasn't Us!' Say Limbo of the Lost Developers.

You can't really say that you're tuned into video game news when you're a few days late posting a piece of news. In this fast-paced world of online media you'll get a cry of 'OLD!' even if you're only a few hours later than everyone else. In the case of this piece of news I read about it when it was first posted on the 24th June but I didn't post about it due to sheer laziness (although, to be fair, I've only just graduate and I've been contemplating my less than stellar result).

Well, for the two of you don't don't already know the developers of Limbo of the Lost (that adventure game that has scenes you clearly remember seeing somewhere before) have finally commented on accusations of plagiarism.

In response to the shocking notification that some alleged unauthorized copyrighted materials submitted by sources external to the development team have been found within the PC game Limbo of the Lost, we (the development team) have given our consent and full cooperation to both publishers who are recalling all units from all territories immediately.

Please be assured that we do not condone in anyway the use of unauthorized copyrighted materials and if we had been made aware earlier, we would of course have ceased development of the product and rectified the issue prior to the publication process.

Sigh.

Ok, so even if some assets were outsourced to some lazy art guy they should really have people who check these sort of things out. Honestly? I think it's a blatant - yet carefully worded - lie and the longer they deny that they stole from others the longer the embarrassment will continue. You see, if they just admit it and disappear then maybe no-one will really care. The longer they drag it out means it's more likely that someone they stole from will take it to court. I'm not entirely sure something like that will happen though, since the game has been pulled from distribution meaning they can't profit from it anymore anyway. Besides, their financial status will be so meaningless that no-one will get anything out of it if they try to sue.

One thing's for sure - these guys will never be getting a publisher again!

Meanwhile you can follow this guys excruciation walkthrough of the game

Limbo of the Lost devs respond to plagiarism charges - Gamespot.

Related Posts: New PC Adventure Game - Limbo of the Lost - Accused of Plagiarism.

A Selection of my Spore Creature Creator Creations.

I've been messing around with the Spore Creature Creator f0r a few days now and I'm loving it. I initially created some creatures with the trial version but I loved it so much that I purchased the full version. The full version gives you full access to all the parts and features of the Creature Creator (though I expect they may be further parts to unlock when the full game, Spore, is released) and it's high flexibility pretty much allows you to create any type of creature that your imagination can come up with.

My creations aren't amazing and, hopefully, I'll get a little better at it. Here are some of the creations I've made so far (you can add the creatures to your own Creature Creator by clicking on the name links, which goes to the Sporepedia):


This guy is known as Yurak (I know, it's a strange name) and the idea was some deformed version of a giraffe. I suppose I should probably have made him yellow but I thought orange went better with the black (it's a tiger giraffe!). Here he is with his kids:



Next up:



Limar!

And...



Deara!

Finally here's my attempt at creating a vaguely humanoid creature:



Homor (not Homer) also has his own video:



Check out my YouTube account for a few more! You can also visit my Sporepedia page.

Feel free to share your own creations in the comments. You can download the free and paid Creature Creator over at the Spore site.

New PC Adventure Game - Limbo of the Lost - Accused of Plagiarism

Pretty much all ideas today are influenced by a previous idea in some way or another and, to an extent, this is completely acceptable. This is especially true in the video game industry as there are already established genres that are simply adapted to create something new. For example, the first FPS game (commonly thought to be Maze War) established the conventions that thousands of games since its development have used. No-one can be accused of directly copying the game in this sense as each successive game (for the most part) has built upon the genre in its own unique way. However, there is a difference between being influenced by a previous game and directly copying off a previous game - which is where the recently completed Limbo of the Lost comes into play.

You see, Limbo of the Lost is a point and click adventure game which, of course, has been done a countless number of times before and, of course, there is nothing wrong with this. What IS wrong with the game, however, is that it directly steals parts of level designs from other games. This includes backgrounds, textures, and even text. Let's see an example:


This is a scene from Limbo of the Lost which looks innocent enough, right?


Well, not when you compare it to a scene from Bethesda's 2006 game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Even the painting in the background is exactly the same as the painting in Oblivion.

Here's another example:



It's pretty much blatant theft of copyrighted scenes and textures and it makes it especially worse when Oblivion allegedly isn't the only game that has been stolen from. Other examples include scenes from Thief III, Unreal Tournament 2004, Painkiller and Diablo II amongst others. You can find them all over at this forum post on NeoGAF.

The US publisher, Tri Synergy, told Kotaku that they have "discontinued distribution" of the game and are "just as shocked as everyone else" following the revelations. I still don't see how they - Majestic Studios - could have got away with this in the first place. Secondly, they did really think that the gaming and Internet community wouldn't notice this? We have way too much time on our hands.

The game looks pants anyway (check out the two incredibly awful trailers) and, hopefully, legal action may force this sham of a company out of business. I have absolutely no respect for people who are so uncreative that they have to steal other people's creations just to make some money.

Limbo of the Lost stole from Oblivion, Morrowind, UT2K4, Diablo, Silent Hill, more? - NeoGaf (Via Kotaku)

Sporepedia Is Now Live!

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Spore was vaporware because, after-all, we haven't been hearing all that much about it lately. This makes it all the more surprising when, seemingly out of the bloom, the previously announced Sporepedia is suddenly released by EA.

The Sporepedia is basically an encyclopedic collection of the millions of creations that players have made in their own copy of the Spore universe - well, that is what it's supposed to be eventually. For now the Sporepedia is only populated by the creations the people of Maxis have designed but, once the game is released, you'll eventually be able to easily download them and add them to your own copy of the game.

The release of Sporepedia comes just a week before the Spore creature creator will be in the players hands (on June 17th). I for one can't wait - especially now that the system recommendations show that my aging PC can handle it!

Sporepedia - Maxis/EA

Tobioriya (Or, Um, Something to do With Arrows).

Now here's an odd one. In Tobioriya you fire arrows at naked people jumping from a building. Yup, and that's about it. There's some sort of score system but because it's in Japanese I don't actually have a clue what any of it means.

Oh well, pinning some naked people to a wall is a nice way to kill five minutes. You can download it from here (it's the second from the top).

Got a game you want me to take a look at? Email me or comment in the comments section!

A Few GTA IV Impressions.

So time got the better of me and I never actually wrote about my impressions of GTA IV. It's been a tough few weeks and, to be honest, updating this blog has been the last thing on my mind. However, I'm not here to talk about my personal life so let's get back to business. This isn't a review so I'm not going to cover everything, I just want to pick out a few of my thoughts about the game.

Playing video games has really been my only escape lately and it was a pure god send that a new GTA game was released during this time. I've always adored the GTA series, mainly because I can get lost in a whole new city while doing pretty much anything I want in my new home. GTA, as usual, didn't disappoint in this sense. As Niko Bellic steps off the boat at the beginning of the game you get a feeling his experience is the experience that many players feel when beginning a new GTA game for the first time. You're effectively a new immigrant to the city, just like the character you play in any new GTA game, entering a strange new world but also excited about the possibilities this new world presents. This links you from the start and, in the case of GTA IV, it's even more so with the character of Niko - an Eastern European immigrant. He's also an instantly likeable character, besides all the murdering he'll be doing, and you really get a feeling that he's doing what he's doing because he has to, not because he wants to. This attitude means that going on the usual GTA rampage seems out of character for Niko - it doesn't stop you doing it though!


For me the city is always the star of a GTA game. You can have a superb cast of characters and the best storyline ever but if the city isn't fun then it's not going to get me playing for long. You only need to drive down a single street in the revamped Liberty City to notice just how much care and attention has gone in to creating the immense detail that makes the city incredibly life-like. In the first few hours of play I saw a preacher spouting about the end of the world, workmen laying a new drive on a housing estate, people having conversations on their cell phones, random conversations everywhere, cops arresting and pulling people over. All this, and more (such as the radio stations and the incredibly detailed Internet), filled me with awe. It finally feels like you're living in an actual living breathing city instead of a bunch of buildings with empty lifeless husks walking around them. Couple this with some absolutely breathtaking scenery on behalf of it's New York City imitation and you're on to a winner.

This level of detail is also covered in the sheen of a totally new engine. Yeah, the game isn't the best looking game in the world but that's never expected from a GTA game and, besides, with a world like GTA IV's you can't really compare to other games that don't have the sheer level of detail but have incredible graphics. The game is by no means bad looking and it looks more realistic than ever. The weather effects are brilliant and each time of the day has it's own unique look. The character animations are incredible (although Niko can be a bit over-dramatic when he's nudged by a car) and, as such, gun fights now never feel like the same old point and shoot that the previous games had (although I love the new cover system it can be a bit awkward at times and the game still has a few targeting issues. Overall though the system is vastly improved so the few flaws can be forgiven). Everything just feels far more realistic.



There has been a few complaints about driving but I really don't see the problems myself. It's been described as being like 'driving on butter' but this is completely senseless in my opinion. It was far too easy to drive on previous GTA games, far too easy to scream around the corners when trying to escape from police. Scream around the corner in GTA IV without proper handling and you're going to end up hitting the nearest wall. Sure, it takes time to learn how to handle each car properly but that's the beauty of it. It's actually fun driving now because you have to think when approaching each corner. It's by no means at the standard of a racing game but it's getting there.

Multiplayer has been a bit up and down for me. The first few days after GTA IV's release saw me and a few friends playing it non-stop over Xbox Live. I hardly played the single player at first as free mode with a few friends was incredibly fun. It's just that it seemed to be a passing fancy for the friends I was playing with, whom have pretty much gone back to Call of Duty 4 while I play through GTA's singleplayer. Playing GTA IV with the random masses on Live is not half as fun - largely because it's full of asses but mostly because GTA IV is a game which is designed to enjoy with friends. 'GTA Race' is the only mode that I can really enjoy when I'm not playing with friends. Maybe it's because my friends love COD4 and I get easily bored of it that always leaves me in this situation as I'm the only one who seems to want to play GTA IV's multiplayer modes for an extended period of time. GTA IV's multiplayer is by no means bad when not played with friends but I feel you're missing out on a lot of what it has to offer if you're just playing with strangers.

It's not a perfect game by any means, but what game is perfect? I'm not the kind of gamer who'll get annoyed by a bit of pop-up and the odd glitch (although some of the glitches in GTA games can be incredibly fun) and no game is without it's flaws, specifically a game where an open world means it's harder for testers to cover every base. Although the storyline is absolutely stellar in this installment it's the city that's the real star and Rockstar North just provides the highly tuned tools to play around within its creation. The new generation of consoles doesn't just mean shiny graphics, it means adapting tried and tested formulas to fit with the tools the developer has at its disposal and also making sure that gamers will get something new and not just the same old game (no matter how much the said franchise has sold in the past because this streak will not last forever). At its core GTA is the same game it has always been but there's enough new and adapted quality as the crust to make GTA IV one of the defining moments of the current generation and maybe even the entirety of video game history. I, like many gamers, can't wait to see where Rockstar North takes GTA next.

More Spore Goodness!

It's only a few days after EA officially announced the release date of Spore and the Internet has literally exploded with a tonne of new information about the most anticipated game of the year.

First-up Kotaku gives us a video of a new look at the creature editor. More is revealed about the parts that make up a creature, what they do, and what's needed to gain the parts. Creation extends to air, land, and sea vehicles as well as buildings, accessories and UFO's (although the fauna creation option seems to have gone). Also shown off is one of the community aspects of the game - the content browser - called the Sporepedia. Here you can share your creations and download more with other Spore players. You can also comment on creations, track how many times yours has been downloaded, and limit content being added to game to buddies. Of note is the ability to record your creations and instantly upload a video of them to YouTube.This section also shows off some incredible creations, which confirms the amazing flexibility of the editor.

Next-up is 1UP's new preview of Spore, where it's revealed that players will be able to play any phase (Creature, Tribal, Civilization, and Space phases) straight out of the box. This does defeat the traditional format of progression in a game but highlights Spore's sandbox nature in which you make the game for yourself (much like The Sims). There's also an interesting video interview with Will Wright, part two of which will be coming our way soon (if you'd rather read than watch then Newsweek has another interview up with Will Wright, in which he explains the reason for such a long delay. Here's an interesting quote from Will: "If I took a building from my city, the program can look at other content that thematically matches that City Hall, and suggest that to me.").


Moving away from the PC IGN has a look at the Nintendo DS version of Spore. The game will be called Spore Creatures and while it will still retain some aspects of the creature editor it's a much linear product than its bigger brother. It's more of a adventure game in which you form relationships with other creatures, attack hostile creatures (using the stylus to slash) and explore the world for new body parts. The sharing aspect comes in the form of DS to DS. There's also a look at the mobile phone version of Spore. This is just the cell stage of the game but does include community aspects as you can register you creation online to battle against other players creations.

More Spore info:

Joystiq - '...we got too preoccupied gathering some fish and didn't leave any tribe members at home. While deserted, a large feral creature -- he reminded me of a monster from Where the Wild Things Are -- lumbered in to snack on our food stocks.'
- 'Spice is still the game's resource, but different planets harvest different colors of Spice. You can take advantage of these varieties with trade routes through the galaxy.'
- Also includes an incredible 81 new screenshots.

CVG - EA will release the creature creation editor a few months before the arrival of Spore (much like the body shop was released before The Sims 2).

Wired - "For any city, for any colony I make, a [musical] theme will be generated for it," he said." the music generator allows users to jump in and create their own themes by clicking and dragging musical notes. "I could put in the Star Wars theme if I wanted to," Wright said.

DS Fanboy - Europe will get Spore two days before the US release date (which is great for me!)

Gamespot - 'We chose to use a flying-saucer-shaped vessel as a template, and from there we altered the proportions, applied different colours and patterns, and adorned our creation with various cannons and lasers. Although there was no way that an advanced civilisation would be caught dead in such a monstrosity, it's clear that the tools will let players create pretty much anything they can imagine.'

There's your lot!