I bought the first (in the series) Burnout game the day i purchased my PS2. One of the few driving games i love playing and the new one is coming out next year. MTV Multiplayer’s Stephen Tottilo had some “hands on time” with the game.
Fall Xbox 360 update touches on social networking - Engadget
Developer Interview: Casey Hudson on Mass Effect - A+E: The Mercury News Interactive
Nintendo faces new piracy threat - Gamesindustry
Assassin’s Creed is fastest selling new IP since 2002 - Gamesindustry
Next-Gen’s 2007 Christmas Buyer’s Guide - Next-Gen
DS: 12 Games of Christmas - Eurogamer
Things i have done: Felt Weird after finishing a game (Half Life 2, Ratchet & Clank, Call of Duty 4) - MTV Multiplayer
Wiimote accessory-less toy, more gun - Engadget
Usually when I am playing a game I write down my first impressions and then later on a mini review once I have completed it. With Portal however it all happened in one day.
I was at a friend’s place yesterday when I decided to have a go at Portal to see what the fuss was all about. The gaming world had been buzzing lately about this surprise hit, one of the 5 games found in Valve’s
The game starts you off with the female computer voice making the introductions and giving you a rundown of what you have to do. You are given a portal gun with which you can place portals on surfaces be they walls, ceilings, floors. When you go inside one portal you exit the other. Place boxes on switches to open doors, go through portals to get to non accessible areas and so on. It is a FPS puzzle game which plays a lot with the 3 dimensional environments.
The game does a great job of easing you into it although I did find that it leaves the best part of it until near end of the game. It only really starts to be challenging and mind blowing from the 16th-17th level onwards, out of a total of a total 19.
What I really loved about this game is that it basically has only a handful of variables to consider when tackling a situation but it still manages to challenge you to find the way to solve it. It is a not a trial and error puzzle game. Everything you do is logical and once you get into how the game works, figuring it out becomes second nature but it never loses its magic and thrill when you are solving a specific puzzle.
It has a story to tell but it is more abstract than actual and is loosely set in Half Life’s world. It is a preview on how this portal gun and puzzles will be implemented in Valve’s later games.
The game will take you around 5 hours to complete and it will never frustrate you. I got stuck in one particular situation for around 30 to 45 minutes only because I failed to “read the instructions”. Completely my fault.
Much has been said about the humour of the female computer voice but to be honest I did not pay any attention to it (except for the last level) as I was too engrossed in the puzzles so I cannot give an opinion on that.
It is a short but charming game which comes truly alive in the later stages. I don’t think I have ever played a game on a console before where I would just pause and just walk up down “calculating” in my head the solution to a puzzle. A refreshing game that plays tricks with your mind. You will never see a room the same way again.
I just got back from lunch and need to finish up some pending issues here at the office. But before i do that i thought i would just give you this Friday’s Click the Link. Maybe some people have already “shut down” for the week.
Gabe Newell Interview - Rock Paper Shotgun
Massive UK Personal data lost - BBC
Amazon Kindle sells out on launch - BBC
Santa gets axe for euro in Cyprus finance ministry - Reuters
Interview with Gearbox President Randy Pitchford (Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway) - Eurogamer
Jeff Minter can’t stop bitching about poor reception of Space Giraffe - Stinkygoat.livejournal
I was one of the few apparently who purchased his game on XBLA and regretted it as it is a game that is only enjoyable to a minority of people. It’s not a bad game as such but it is not accessible to the vast majority of gamers. And for me XBLA games must be able to appeal to the average gamer especially if the creator demands it to be a commercial success. I just hope that Mr Minter who is clearly a talented developer just stops whining and learns from this and comes back with something new.
Have a good weekend and I will see you on Monday.
From: Pure Otaku Costas
To: Uber Otaku Mardas
Date: 21/11/2007
Dear Uber Otaku Mardas,
I will go first my friend starting with the Campaign mode.
First of all, let me ask you this? How many joypads have you thrown at the wall in frustration? Did your 360 really go down the ring of death way or was it thrown out the window? I know you have been playing it on Veteran and i just wanted to know. Myself, I chose the normal way. The average Joe gamer’s way. I wanted to enjoy the cinematic experience without having to die a million times before each checkpoint.
Off I went with my mates in the SAS and boarded the ship in the storm. We hit the bridge first. I took out that lazy bastard sitting on the chair. You know the one I am talking about. All was going well until the ship was struck by a MIG’s missile. Rushing out of that sinking ship I almost missed a turn but my Captain’s voice helped me find the right way out. He saved my life twice that night in the space of a few minutes.
Why this intro of the game you might ask. I wanted you to know that I really felt I was actually part of what was going on. Although the events in Call of Duty 4 are scripted and always triggered when you kill enough of the respawning enemies or after you have moved to a specific location Infinity Ward have masterfully ensured that it never, ever feels scripted. I was totally immersed.
Rock Band is now out in the US (early next year in Europe) and as i expected home made videos are starting to find their way to youtube. This is a video of a guy playing the drums on expert and getting 98% of the notes right. This game is going to be huge and together with Guitar Hero III it’s going to boost music sales too. Click the Link for more on that story but don’t forget to play the video (with sound on!).
A few weeks ago I got the Eye Camera together with the Eye of Judgement. The camera feels more solidly built than the 360 one and also has a microphone. Looks like another good hardware product from Sony.
As for the Eye of Judgement, for those who do not know, it’s a trading magic card board game. The game comes with a cloth which acts as the board and there are 9 boxes on it. The first player who controls 5 of these boxes wins. How do you control the boxes? On your magic cards you have creatures you can summon, spells you can cast and also other “utility” cards. Remember that all these are actually stuff you setup on your table. Now here is where the PS3 comes in. You setup the new PS3 eye camera so that it is overlooking the cloth/board. As you place the cards in each box the camera scans the cards (think barcode) and displays an animated image on the TV set of the creature or spell of the card. Then you make the decisions on who is attacking who and so on. All these are being shown and processed by the PS3 on the TV set with animated cut scenes.
One issue I had with the game was that the camera did not always recognise that the card was on the board and kept asking me to place it when it was already there. You need to have some proper lighting as it really affects this card recognition. Also the games made me feel that it is incomplete as there are extra cards coming out and are sold separately. I like having the complete version of a game and not having to keep up with a constant stream of expansion packs especially so soon after the game is released.
The fact that I played the game once and never got back to it is indicative of the impressions I have of the game. It is a hassle to setup compared to other videogames and I don’t want to play it alone, either online or against the computer. I only want to play it when someone else is in the room.
It seems to me that Eye of Judgement tries to come off as a videogame when in practice it’s just the same board game it always was. You are better off getting the standalone camera package.
I came across this vocabulary game called Free Rice, which requires you to find the correct meaning of a word giving you 4 possible options (multiple choice). For each word you answer correctly they will donate 10 grains of rice through the United Nations Food program.
So if you want to waste your time at the office why don’t you help someone in need in the process. Forget Zuma and Bejeweled.
Free Rice is the name of the game.
I was always aware of the Ratchet & Clank series on the PS2 but for some reason i never played one. This time around with PS3 titles in short supply i finally bought my first game in the series.
After a couple of hours i can honestly say WOW and smile at the same time. WOW because the game is simply beautiful. Closer to an animated film than any game has managed before. The game does showcase some of the PS3’s power with the background having buidlings collapse and ships constantly moving around with the engine handling everything effortlessly.
What i have loved so far is the weapons and i cannot stress how important the upgrade of weapons is. I am not usually looking to collect all items in a game but because i want to upgrade my weapons i explore the levels to find as many bolts and leviathan souls as possible. My puny gun has now been fully upgraded and is a blast to use. And there so many options of weapons to use just a click away.
With an easy to manage inventory system you are always trying new things even if the game does not require you to do so to progress. Although the game’s checkpoints appear to get more spaced out as i go along it is still a pretty easy game so far.
I am thinking of which weapons to upgrade next and what their effect will be. Can’t wait to get home and play some more. That is a sign of a good game.
Halo novel in New York Times Best Seller List - NY Times
Super Mario Galaxy Unseats Ocarina - Next-Gen
Activision No1 publisher in US for month of October - The Escapist
Rock Band - Gametrailers Review
Halo 3 DLC dated and priced - Eurogamer
