The Next Level Podcast- 4/7/08

In this episode of The Next Level podcast we celebrate independence day as well as discussing all of the news from the gaming community and talking about upcoming changes to the site. (Running Time: 1:03 hrs)

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In this episode, we talk about all the crazy news that been happening in the gaming world, such as the Tecmo vs. Itagaki saga, the fastest selling games and charts and loads of other irrelevant stuff....and MGS4! Listen in!

First Segment & Second Segment

GT4 Endurance Race Blog

Hello, the day has finally come for our 24 hour endurance race, we're going to be posting updates regularly so keep an eye on this for our thoughts of what's happening today!

11:40: Well, just getting everything set up at the moment, getting ready to record the podcast with no plan whatsoever! Here are some pictures I took as we were getting ready.

11:50:Waiting for the crew to arrive, listening to dramatic MGS music get us in the mood, will probably hear it later.

14:39:Podcast done, slight problem however. None of us can remember the password or username for our podcast hoster...whoops....

15:00: Would start now, but still got to delay it, aiming to film some intro shots soon. Found an alternative way for the podcast to be posted, will be here soon! Hell, I may go into stressed mode soon.

15:22: We're getting there, podcast on its way, should be starting around 4ish, going to be a long long time. Filmed some introduction scenes and we're almost ready to go.

15:22: Here's the podcast, with the second segment. (podcast has now been moved to a seperate post)

16:38 We are around 30 minutes into the race, Josh is driving. We had some serious Tyre problems in the first few laps and by the time we had fixed it we were in 6th place and a whole 6 minutes behind first place. Still, we have enough time to catch up...

16:55 We are now in 5th place and approaching the one hour mark. The new tyres seem to be working fine and we are establishing a pitting routine.

17:01 Wahey, we just hit the one hour mark. Only 23 hours left to go then...

17:20 More good news, after a number of fast laps Josh has got into 4th place and we are now on the tail of the 3rd place car. Currently we are managing to pit every 3rd lap which is not ideal because most of the AI can last longer than us.

17:41 Josh took 3rd place but then crashed almost immediately afterwards allowing him to be overtaken and put back into 4th place. Eventually he pulled back into 3rd position and then overtook the car in front thinking he would be in 2nd place but it turned out he had only lapped the car in last place.

18:30:Josh is here, and phew that was fairly tough, but not as boring as I thought it would be, now we eating our food and supporting Matt!

19:44: Matt has beat my lap time of 7mins by 10 seconds. He's going OK, not far off first comparatively.

20:06: Just been playing around with the camera, recording little updates of whats been going on, got quite a lot of footage at the moment, should be able salvage, oo I don't know, about 5 mins of good footage from it. And he's nearly about to overtake.

20:12: Someone looks determined, don't they!

20:42: Matt has repeated my mistake by forgetting to pit, he struggles round a lap and gets overtaken in the process...silly boy. Well, in his last action before I take over, lets see if he can pull us back in front.

20:44: Time for me to get ready to go.

20:53 Matt is here again and I'm very tired after my rather dramatic 2:30 hour stint in the car. You'll be glad to hear that I did manage to pull us back into first place so all that's left for Josh to do is keep the lead.

22:53 Well we over a quarter of the way through the race, we are firmly in first place and so far have completed 55 laps of the track. Right now, the end seems a very long way away

23:40: Yes it does seem a very long way away now. It's Josh again, and its nice to have a bit of a break, but I have to do that 4 more times at least...phew.

00:33: Boy it's late here, we've now all switched over to 'GT Time' as our late night pizza and coolant (soft drinks) need to be sorted out, Matt is still going, although is zoned out completely.

09:39: Hello again, good morning and all that. Matt is racing at the moment, got the hard part out the way, the night shift was very difficult. At the moment we are 17 hours and 38 minutes in, and are in the lead. And this morning I was greeted with a copyright notice from EA themselves, lovely.

10:15: Apart from Matt's occasional moaning that I seem to be rigging the time to make him go longer, we're getting through it. My next session should be my last and Matt will be crossing the finish line. Hopefully. In the mean time, sleep depravation causes incredible stress at my broken Internet connection, its being a pain.

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This post basically stopped then for various reasons and we will be posting more in-depth looks at the event soon. But we are really tired at the moment, so all the media etc will be sorted out either on Thursday or Friday.

A new contender in the handheld battle?

The handheld market has always been ruled by Nintendo. The Game Boy is probably more famous than any other console before or after it and for many it was there first step into the world of video games. In fact I have owned every version of the game boy since it was first launched (with the exception of the latest: the 'Micro'). However, I was never really that attracted to the DS. All that I saw in it was a gimmicky control system that disguised the sub-standard console behind. Instead I settled for a PSP as it had the more power, the bigger screen and much more multimedia capabilities. However, the masses disagreed with me and went for the DS and needless to say Nintendo stayed at the top of the podium.

Nintendo then saw how attractive these "innovative" controls were and decided to take a similar approach with the Wii. Incredibly after being behind in the last two generations of the home console market, Nintendo were pushed straight to the front as everyone went Wii crazy.

However Nintendo now have something else to worry about and this time it comes from Apple.

A few years ago, the worldwide leader in the portable music player category was the Sony Walkman. It was one of those brands that with infamous. However, Apple released a little thing called the iPod and it became so successful that practically everyone now owns one. There iTunes store stole millions of record sales away from the 'real' music stores like HMV and lead to the music charts being forced to include online sales. Then last year they released the iPhone, once more they overtook practically every other mobile phone and smartphone manufacturer.

At this point you might be expecting me to unveil the Apple iGame or something that will put Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo out of business, but in fact this new DS contender is already out on the market. With its version 2.0 upgrade, the iPhone now supports 3rd party applications and this means that it can now play games.

'So what?', you say 'Most phones can play games, but the DS is still the market leader.' The iPhone however has a couple of tricks up it's sleeve. Firstly it has a multi-touch screen which, as the name suggests, means it can detect multiple points of contact as opposed to the DS only picking up one point of contact. Secondly the iPhone has a built in 3-axis accelerometer which, in lament's terms, means it can match the Wiimote and Sixaxis in their motion controls.

So the iPhone is a combination of the DS and Wii in terms of its controls, but what about everything else?

Well the new version, 'iPhone 3G', is a 3G Phone, a Camera, an iPod, a Sat Nav unit and a Calculator. It can surf the web, it can send emails, it can do instant and SMS messaging, it supports YouTube and is compatible with 3rd party software. It supports Music, Photos and Video and has a large high-quality screen. Just in this one device it can both match and then beat the PSP and DS, but the final and killer question is: what are the games actually like?

Well at the moment it remains to be seen, but from the footage I have seen of Sega's 'Super Monkey Ball' running on it, it is looking positive. (View the Keynote here and skip to around 22:00 minutes)

Apple have announced that the iPhone 3G will be sold globally at a maximum price of $199 or around £100. I know that at that price and with all those features that I definitely want one and I guess that you probably do as well, the only problem will be trying to get your hands on one.

Gran Turismo 24 Hour Endurance- 17/06/08

Here's a sneak peak at what's going to be happening next week, when Matt and me attempt to do something quite insane.


GT4 Endurance Race Special- Teaser Trailer from The Next Level UK on Vimeo.

Metal Gear Solid 4- Reviews

I thought, seeing as we cant actually review MGS4 until it comes out in stores in a few days time, that I would post a couple of links to 'Real' reviews from across the Internet.

Games Radar UK Review

IGN AU Review

CVG Review

Edge/Next Gen Review

Metacritic

The reviews seem to be very positive about MGS4 with most giving between 90% to 100%. The Metacritic score, at time of writing, is 95%.

This game is bound to sell in its hundreds of thousands and probably also shift a hell of a lot of PS3s. If your into the Metal Gear series then you simply have to buy this new instalment and even if you haven't played a single other Metal Gear game this still promises to be enjoyable regardless.

Why you shouldn't make promises you cant keep

It is undeniable that the Wii's graphics, compared to the 360 and PS3, are not the best. Sure, compared to last gen they might be good, but they do not hold up to graphical punch provided by the other two. Everyone accepts this fact, even Nintendo, because everyone knows that they Wii is all about the controls and having fun.

There are some people, though, who feel that the Wii can match the 360. I talk, of course, of High Voltage the developer behind 'Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude'

Speaking last year, High Voltage CEO Kerry Ganofsky said:

"Most of the games on the Wii look like crap. We want to change that, so we've invested heavily in our Wii tech over the past year. Of course [Wii owners] care about gameplay, but we believe if given the choice, they would want great graphics as well. It's just a cop out. With Conduit, we are trying to make a Wii game that looks like a 360 title."

Sorry, a Wii game that looks like a 360 title ? A Wii game who's graphics could match that of Gears Of War? Are you insane Kerry? The answer is yes.

Watch this tech demo: (or click here to view high quality version)

Quite honestly at no point did I think 'Wow, this looks like a 360 game'. What I actually though was 'Wow, this looks like a PS2game'. Sure there are some nice looking light and water effects and sure the guy says things about graphics that no-one understands but these graphics are unimpressive at most.

Normally I wouldn't even be that bothered, but if it wasn't for the developers big headed-ness then I wouldn't have to be quite so harsh on the graphics.

Did I mention that I think the graphics are a blurry, low-res, jaggy, ugly, brown mess. I should also point out that the fire is one of the worst fire effects I have seen in a long time.

However, after watching the actual game trailer, I will say this: It looks comparable to some parts of Half Life 2 (a 4 year old game, remember), except that it's lower res.

Sure this game looks better than the average Wii game, but personally I prefer the bright, colourful graphics in Super Mario Galaxy to the dull, brown graphics in The Conduit.

Finally just a word of advice to other developers out there: Don't make promises you cant keep, because when you fail to deliver we wont have any sympathy for you.

GTA IV Podcast Special

As promised, here is our podcast dedicated entirely to perhaps the biggest game ever, GTA IV.

Either click play on the embedded player, or download the file here (Right click and select 'Save As...')

Behind then scenes of The Next Level Podcast

Since it was our first piece of content that wasnt completly text based, and since we wanted an excuse to appear in HD on the internet, here is a behind the scenes look at the podcast. So, take a look!
(Note: Click on the link at the bottom to view the HD version)

Behind the scenes of the podcast- 17/5/08 from The Next Level UK on Vimeo.

Our First Podcast

We finally got our nice new microphones on Friday, so we decided it was time to make our very first podcast. It's quite long (nearly one hour), so it might be worth downloading it if you don't think you have that long to listen to it in one go.

Enjoy.

 

 

To Download:  Right click and select 'Save Link As' here

'Courage is Solid'...apparantly

 

Metal Gear Solid 4 promises to turn the advertising world upside down. It is perhaps one of the first games to have a 15 minute trailer as its teaser trailer, and a 3 minute trailer as its final theatrical trailer.

The sheer amount of content in the trailer is overwhelming and I don't have the time to write something about every shot as I could in the Gears of War 2 trailer. So, if you haven't watched it already, click play on the embedded player at the top of this post.

Watched it? Good.

My initial reaction to this trailer was 'Hmm, they used a Movie-trailer style voiceover' but maybe that's because I know very little about the Metal Gear series having never actually played one. I decided to read some of the responses to the video to see what others thought about it.

Immediately I was presented with a large number of comments saying something along the lines of 'Why isn't this coming out on 360?' and 'I'd a PS3 for this, but not until the PS3 costs 55p' or my personal favourite 'I'm not a fanboy, but the PS3 is a pile of steaming s**t' (Note: Some of these quotes have been emphasised for effect).

Digging down into some real comments, people commented on how movie-like the trailer was and I felt inclined to agree with them. Apart from the CG graphics and unrealistic sounding dialogue (It just doesn't sound natural to me) the trailer would not seem out of place in a cinema. It even managed to have that same sense of it trying too hard to sound exciting, in the same way a trailer for an action movie might, with lines like 'Evil is powerful' and 'When war becomes business'.

Yet more comments had people pointing out characters from older series that had made an appearance, although being unable to really name any characters other than the main ones means that I am not really in a position to confirm of deny such sightings.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is due out worldwide on June 12 only on PS3.

Gears of War 2 Trailer- Initial Impressions

There is no denying that when it come to creating stunning graphics, Epic Games really knows what it's doing. I think the term trailer does not really describe the video accurately though, technical showcase seems like the better thing to call it. After the somewhat disappointing teaser trailer, which had no real footage in it, this new gameplay reveal trailer is something that fans can be excited about

The trailer begins with the infamous Gears of War logo, exactly where the teaser trailer finished off. The design director at Epic, Cliff Bleszinski, spends nearly the whole first minute proudly telling us about the footage he is about to show off, although most likely you have been distracted by trying to read what his T-shirt says. He tells us that we are going to see an exert from one of the levels (subtly saying 'Look, it ain't pre-rendered'). In perhaps one of the biggest understatements in the ESRB's history we are warned that the trailer 'May contain content inappropriate for children', reassuring everyone that Gears has not gone soft.

At the beginning of the gameplay, I cannot help but get the feeling of déjà vu. Riding of the back of a air transporter, with another transporter being blown out of the sky whilst a soldier yells 'Incoming!', sounds identical to the beginning of the Killzone 2 gameplay trailer. It quickly becomes unique however when the character, who is the same as in the last series, starts to machine gun down what look like giant flying octopuses (The Matrix anyone?) The trailer becomes more and more action packed as it goes on, with our guy fighting ships, locust soldiers and even a giant locust with a rocket launcher strapped to its back.

It is impossible to say something about this trailer without mentioning the graphical side of things. The game seems to have all the checkboxes ticked: high definition, smooth frame rate, high res textures, high res models, dynamic lighting, smooth anti-aliasing and a fantastic depth of field effect. The only real complaints you can make about it is that is has quite a dull colour pallet, with mainly browns and grays that are only livened up with a burst of orange gunfire or the series' signature vivid red blood, and the general darkness of the graphics. But then again, that can be said for nearly all of Epics games and certainly most next-Gen shooter games.

Overall this game looks very promising and can certainly hold its weight against its rival Killzone 2. Only time will tell which of the two games does come out on top, but no doubt hundreds of forums will be ruined by fanboys arguing over it.

Oh Yeah, and there are still chainsaws...lots of chainsaws.