30. November 2007 by Costas Taliadoros.

It’s a dark, cloudy Friday and hopefully at some point it will also be a rainy Friday.

I hope that this Friday’s Click the Link help you get through these difficult and final office hours…

• N’Gai Croal, one my favourite videogame journalists, has written an article on having “repercussions” on what we do in videogames in the real world.

• MTV Multiplayer has a nice story of one its female employees playing Mario Galaxy in turns with her boyfriend. But what happens when she leaves town though? MTV Multiplayer

• Retro Studios tells Gamasutra how the company got the go-ahead from Nintendo to develop the Metroid Prime trilogy on the Gamecube and Wii and discuss some of the issues they had with all three games during development - Gamasutra

• The final link is another report on the effects of some forms of entertainment to young viewers and adults which was prepared by the University of Michigan. TV, film and game violence seen as a threat

That’s it for me. I am looking forward to a weekend of Apoel, Arsenal, Ratchet & Clank and early Christmas shopping.

Have a great weekend!!!

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30. November 2007 by Costas Taliadoros.

I am reading reports that Wii consoles in the US and Europe are going to be extremely hard to locate. Despite having launched the console a year ago Nintendo still seems to be under-supplying the market. I remember we had the same problems in Cyprus in the first months the console was launched. People could not find one (nor a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for that matter).

As i want to give a Wii as a Christmas present to a non gaming couple (i am a missionary of games converting non believers) this year i think i am going to buy it tomorrow. Just to be on the safe side…

What about you? Are you going to risk it until the last minute a.k.a the Cyprus way?

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30. November 2007 by Costas Taliadoros.

First of all please note that this is for the time being a rumour that has been circulating in the gaming world and has yet to be officially confirmed.

Primotech has a story that Jeff Gerstmann, the editorial director at Gamespot and also part of The Hotspot podcast team, was sacked from his job. The story claims it is because he gave Kane & Lynch: Dead Men only a 6 while Eidos, the publisher of the game, at the same time was pumping big amounts of money in Gamespot through advertising.

Penny Arcade’s comic strip is also running the story.

I won’t comment on this until it is confirmed. If anyone finds out anything more please let me know.

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30. November 2007 by Costas Taliadoros.

In the 1st Round of PURE Vs UBER session i advocated the optimality of the normal difficulty setting for the single player and also how cinematic and realistic COD4 was. Mardas counterattacked on the difficulty setting with the Veteran argument “I am a man” while also praising the game’s superb pacing. This is now the 2nd and Final round.

FROM: PURE OTAKU COSTAS
TO: UBER OTAKU MARDAS
DATE: 27 NOVEMBER 2007

Dear Mardas,

You have mistaken my words of sympathy with mockery. And I do have sympathy for you as in your never-ending quest for an ever higher gamerscore you have chosen a path which only leads to vanity. Besides COD4 is not a 360 exclusive title. There is no doubt that the Normal setting is easy. I agree with you 100%.

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29. November 2007 by Costas Taliadoros.

Ever since Microsoft announced that it would be bringing the Live video service to Europe (US only so far) i was both happy and sad.

Happy because i believed (and still do) that this is one of the most important features this generation’s consoles will have i.e. downloadable movies and series.

Sad because i knew that the service would definitely be restricted to certain countries due to licensing issues. According to Joystiq the new MS Points Cards state that the service willo only be available to Xbox Live members in the UK, Germany and France.

The service is thought to be included in next week’s (4th of December) dasboard update. I doubt that “phoney” accounts will do the trick. Most probably they will be checking the console’s IP address thus locking out other countries including countries where even the Live service is still not available like Cyprus.

I wonder if the whole Live service will ever be officially released here. If the service providers working with MS in other countries are making profits on this i don’t understand why CYTA or some other provider can’t do the same here.

Of course we are talking about a country where you are charged more than Euros50/month for a 1mbit/128kbs connection….

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29. November 2007 by Costas Taliadoros.

Have you played Portal?
No? Then go to your room and don’t come out until you have!
Yes? Then you have earned the right to enjoy this song (currently my ringtone) once again.

Me, i would just like to dedicate the song to Filaman, his 360 and his flat for giving me one of the most memorable gaming moments of my life.

Youtube

Lyrics - click link below

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28. November 2007 by Costas Taliadoros.

Dear Microsoft,

Although i will never, ever forgive you for completely abandoning the original XBOX once the 360 was launched i want to say thank you for this latest update of the backwards compatibility.

I don’t say that often but when a company, two years after launching its console, is still updating the backwards compatibility i do find it commendable.

You announced yesterday that a further 80 titles of the original XBOX are now playable. In this updated backwards compatibility list i found Freedom Fighters. I have been wanting to play this game for some time now but was put off by the fact that i had to bring back the original XBOX to the living room. Although this is still US only i believe and hope that real soon i will be able to play my PAL version too.

At a time when one of your competitors asks gamers to pay a premium to have backwards compatibility i applaud your commitment to letting gamers have a taste of the old.

Thank you again. I am a happy customer.

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28. November 2007 by Costas Taliadoros.

Following the better than expected commercial success of Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 4 the publisher has raised its expectations for the 3rd fiscal quarter financial results.

The statement released by the company revises the outlook up from USD 1.05 billion to USD 1.23 billion. For the full financial year revenues go up from previous expectations of USD 2.07 billion to USD 2.30 billion.

Although the success is based on existing franchises and not on original IP, it’s still great to see that it is because these franchises are being improved upon and this is appreciated by the gamer consumer.

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28. November 2007 by Costas Taliadoros.

Oh the memories…..

Finally, it is coming to XBLA. According to Eurogamer the game is due to be released on the 19th of December. From what i have read, Codemasters have not changed a thing on the game. They simply improved on it visually (giving you the option of HD and retro visual style) and also added an online one on one feature. If it stays true to the original version i will be taking mighty Apoel against the world! How sweet is that???

What I also want to see is 4 player offline matches. The accessibility and familiarity of the game will attract people who are not into the more complicated FIFA and PES and that would make it a great party game during the holiday period.

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27. November 2007 by Costas Taliadoros.

Wouldn’t it be great if Portal had co-op? Basically it is important for players to talk to one another and co-ordinate their actions. It is still just a rough idea but here are some suggestions on how it could work.

• Each player will have a different shape/size so that he can only access his own two portals and not that of his partner e.g. cube vs ball or tall and thin vs short and fat­. This way you don’t have four portals.
• Continuing the above thought. What if each player is holding the portal gun which only the other player can access. i.e. Player cube opens ball shaped portals for the ball shaped player. Then co-ordination between the two players will increase as each player will direct the other on when and where to open the portal. Imagine those moments in Portal where you flying through the air to open portals on the next level platform.
• Simultaneous actions to pull off (two portal guns) like switches or balancing levers or exploding platforms. For example, imagine a platform which can only be stepped on if there is one player at the same time on each side thus balancing the platform.
• Stages where one player is imprisoned or trapped and needs to escape with the help of the other. For example one player cannot go out of a certain perimeter because the platform will explode or because of a laser fence.
• Player 1 sees things which Player 2 cannot. For example switches, boxes, and other items. This means that once the two players enter the room, they will need to talk about what each player sees and thus have a complete picture of the room.

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